Turbo is the name of two
superheroes
A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...
appearing in
American comic book
An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...
s published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
. Michiko "Mickey" Musashi debuted in ''
New Warriors
The New Warriors are a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They traditionally consisted of teenage and young adult heroes, and were often seen to serve as a junior counterpart to Avengers (comics) ...
'' #28 (Oct 1992) and her ally Michael "Mike" Jeffries in ''
New Warriors
The New Warriors are a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They traditionally consisted of teenage and young adult heroes, and were often seen to serve as a junior counterpart to Avengers (comics) ...
'' #33.
Fictional character biography
The Torpedo armor
The Torpedo armor was a creation of the
Dire Wraiths
The Dire Wraiths are a fictional extraterrestrial species appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and IDW Publishing. The Dire Wraiths are the main opponents of Rom the Space Knight.
Publication history
The Dire Wraiths firs ...
, their attempt to counter the cybernetic armor of the
Spaceknights
Rom the Spaceknight is a superhero who was originally conceived as a toy and then a magazine lead. Rom was created by Scott Dankman, Richard C. Levy, and Bryan L. McCoy for Parker Brothers and is now a Hasbro asset. After the toy was licensed to ...
. They employed a human scientist to develop it, combining both Wraith and human technology. It had collapsible turbines mounted around the wrists and ankles, allowing the user to fly and fire powerful blasts of air. Upon discovering that the suit was going to be used for criminal purposes, its inventor stole it but died while escaping, and he gave it to the first person he stumbled onto, a man called Brock Jones, who used it to battle crime as the superhero the
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
.
However, Jones eventually decided to hide himself and his family from the people seeking the armor, and went to live in the town of Clairton,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
, where he encountered
Rom the Spaceknight
Rom the Spaceknight is a superhero who was originally conceived as a toy and then a magazine lead. Rom was created by Scott Dankman, Richard C. Levy, and Bryan L. McCoy for Parker Brothers and is now a Hasbro asset. After the toy was licensed to ...
and learned about the Wraiths. Jones agreed to help Rom protect the town from the Wraiths, and Rom altered the costume so its lenses would allow the user to see a Dire Wraith's true form.
Jones was eventually found and killed by the Wraiths. Some of Jones' effects were passed on to his relative Phillip Jeffries, whose son Michael found the armor and gave it to his friend Michiko so she could use it as a Halloween costume. When Michiko donned the armor, it began broadcasting on a wavelength that allowed human scientists from the lab that developed the armor to track it and they attacked Michiko and Mike at a college costume party, where Michiko discovered the suit's abilities and fought off her attackers.
''The New Warriors''
Mickey and Mike began sharing the armor, Mike wishing to be a superhero, while Mickey used it to travel the world. Although she considered heroism as a "ridiculous calling", Mickey did not wish to see innocent people hurt when she could have prevented it. This is one of the reasons which got her mixed up with the New Warriors: after a gang of weapon smugglers under the command of the mercenary Sea Urchin involved an innocent in their dealings, she set out to stop them and ran into the team, who were also tailing the criminals. Mickey helped the Warriors to bring them down, capturing the Sea Urchin.
[''The New Warriors'' #28]
Mike encountered the Warriors as Turbo when
Darkling put
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
under siege with the energies of the
Darkforce
The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several noteworthy concepts besides its fictional characters, such as unique places and artifacts. There follows a list of those features.
Places
Certain places fe ...
Dimension, and the two Turbos were attacked by the Air Force when they trained with
Nova
A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...
.
[ Mickey became a reserve Warrior, helping rescue the team twice alongside other back-up heroes, before being offered a full-time membership by the team. Mickey continued to share the armor with Mike, but often had to borrow it for missions with the Warriors.
On one mission, the Warriors fought Volx, the queen of the Dire Wraiths, who recognized the Torpedo armor and desired it for the power-boost it would give her. She tracked the armor to Mike and killed him, absorbing his memories. Posing as Mike, she tricked the Warriors into giving her the armor, which she used in a plot to depower Earth's superhuman population, before she was ultimately killed by Night Thrasher. Mickey pledged to be the sort of hero that Mike wanted to be in order to honor him.
Mickey later met and fell in love with a young man named Dalton Beck, who turned out to be Firestrike, a member of the armored criminal team ]Heavy Mettle
The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several fictional teams and organizations and this page lists them.
0–9 198
A A-Force
A-Next
A.I. Army
The A.I. Army is a fictional organization appearing i ...
. When the Warriors clashed with Heavy Mettle, Firestrike turned on his allies and employer to protect Turbo. Beck was subsequently put in the Federal Witness Protection Program, preventing the two of them from continuing their relationship.
Excelsior (''Loners'')
Deciding that she would do more good with her education in journalism than adventuring, Mickey retired the Torpedo armor. With the help of Phil Urich
Philip Benjamin "Phil" Urich () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in ''Web of Spider-Man'' #125 (June 1995). He was a superhero as the Green Goblin, and a supervillain as the ...
, she got a job at the Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
newspaper (though she would later quit this job to relocate to New York for reasons unexplained). She founded the group called Excelsior, a support group
In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping str ...
for retired teenage superheroes; their lives were briefly the focus of the short-lived ''Loners
A loner is a person described as not seeking out, actively avoiding, or failing to maintain interpersonal relationships.
There are many potential causes for this solitude. Intentional causes include introversion, mysticism, spirituality, rel ...
'' miniseries.
Within the first issue of ''Loners''; Mickey was talking with Phil regarding Julie Power's recent lapse in using her flying powers. And in the second issue, Mickey was going on a date with Chris Powell after their latest support group meeting.
Within the third issue; Mickey learns about Chris, Mattie and Johnny's involvement about the MGH Ring and the events leading to where Julie was stabbed by Hollow (originally known as Penance
Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of contrition for sins committed, as well as an alternative name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession.
The word ''penance'' derive ...
from Generation X
Generation X (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...
). Mickey also prevented Hollow's recapture by the group responsible for her imprisonment by talking to their leader - a CEO named Fuyumi Fujiwaka - in she and Mickey's 'native' Japanese language - though Mickey is an American citizen by birth and why she would refer to the Japanese language as her 'native' tongue is not addressed. The fourth issue has Mickey talking with Chris about her concerns with Mattie within the support group, as well as making up for the recent tensions between them afterwards.
Within the fifth issue, Mickey was almost strangled by Nekra when she was saved by a mysterious girl who called herself "Namie". Although she was terrified of dying (since she was not wearing the Turbo suit at the time), Mickey was also angered by the facts that Julie revealed the truth that she was not a registered hero and that Chris refused to remove the Darkhawk amulet from himself. She was also surprised to learn that Phil harbored feelings for her and witnessing his attack on Chris, in which he grabbed the amulet and transformed into an alternate version of Darkhawk.
Alongside Julie and the other members of the Loners, Mickey is eventually inducted into the Avengers Academy
''Avengers Academy'' is a Marvel Comics comic book ongoing series, series that debuted in June 2010 as part of the "Heroic Age (comics), Heroic Age", and concluded after thirty-nine issues in November 2012. The series was written by Christos Gag ...
by Hawkeye after the school moves into the former headquarters of the West Coast Avengers
The West Coast Avengers is a fictional group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appeared in ''The West Coast Avengers'' #1 (Sept. 1984), created by Roger Stern and Bob Hall (comics), Bob Ha ...
.
Powers and abilities
Mickey Mushashi and Mike Jeffries are both normal humans with no superhuman powers. As Turbo, they both wear a helmet and battle suit previously worn by the Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
, and invented by the second Torpedo, Michael Stivak, employing both Earth and Dire Wraith technology.
The Torpedo battle suit is commanded via cybernetic circuitry built into the cowl/headpiece and bonds to its wearer allowing for greater degrees of control depending on the wearer's individual body chemistry compatibility and skill in manipulating the cybernetic bond, determined by the degree to which his or her brain pattern interacts with its technology. Brock Jones, the suit's first heroic user and the third Torpedo, had a sufficient degree of compatibility and skill to access most functions of the suit. Mickey, however, possesses a far greater natural compatibility and this, combined with her greater length of time using the suit, has enabled her to access functions that Brock could not, such as the suit's limited ability to reconfigure itself cosmetically according to the wearer's wishes. The helmet and suit are both useless without one another.
The Torpedo battle suit allows Mickey to fly at speeds up to, and including, supersonic
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
levels; the exact top speed of the armor has yet to be classified. While in flight, the suit generates a low-level force field to protect her from the adverse physical stress of moving at such speeds; it also provides a great deal of durability for combat applications, and can disperse radiation directed against it.
Using the small nuclear-powered turbines built into the gauntlets and boots of the suit, Mickey is able to project a pulsed concussive force blast nicknamed a "Turbo Punch" which is essentially a jet-powered punch, enabling her to strike opponents or objects with a tremendous amount of force. Using a dual-fisted double Turbo Punch delivers force equal to a full-powered punch from a superhuman with Class 100 strength.[''All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z'' #11] The wearer can regulate these hyper-punches so as to strike a person without causing serious injury. The wearer can also use these turbines to create blasts of high-speed air, projecting both wide wind gusts and narrow gusts and simulating concussive force.
Assisted by the power of the turbo jets, the suit is capable of providing the wearer with superhuman strength, as well. The level of superhuman strength conferred is again based on the wearer's compatibility with the suit and familiarity with its functions. Brock Jones was capable of lifting (pressing) approximately 1 ton; Mickey is able to optimally lift (press) 20 tons.[
Built into the suit's visor is a device able to detect Dire Wraiths (a divergent branch of the ]Skrull
The Skrulls () are a race of List of fictional extraterrestrials, extraterrestrial shapeshifters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They first appeared in ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' #2 and were crea ...
s), no matter what form they take, that was given to Brock Jones by Rom
Rom, or ROM may refer to:
Biomechanics and medicine
* Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient
* Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac
* ...
the Spaceknight in order to better protect the town of Clairton, West Virginia during the Wraiths' attempted conquest of the Earth.
Other versions
House of M
An alternate universe variant of Michiko "Mickey" Musashi appears in '' House of M: Avengers'' as a member of the Wolfpack.
In other media
The Michiko Musashi incarnation of Turbo appears in the ''Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
''Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur'' (or simply ''Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur'') is an American animated superhero television series developed by Steve Loter, Jeffrey M. Howard, and Kate Kondell for Disney Channel. Based on '' Moon Girl A ...
'' episode "Family Matters", voiced by Erika Ishii
Erika Mari Ishii (born March 7, 1987) is an American voice actor and Television presenter, host. They are best known as the voice of video game characters such as Valkyrie in ''Apex Legends'', and for their appearances in actual play web series ...
. This version got her costume from a yard sale after trying to find something to cosplay as. Upon realizing that the suit had powers, she decided to become a superhero, though she became estranged from her mother and gained an arch-enemy in Silvermane.
References
{{reflist
External links
*http://marvel.com/universe/Turbo_%28Michiko_Musashi%29
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics female superheroes
Marvel Comics superheroes