Nobody hires Slaughterhouse Smith. I give orders. I don't take 'em. And I don't shoot people in the back. Someone's gonna die at my hands, I make sure they know it. 
- — Slaughterhouse Smith src
Slaughterhouse Smith was a notorious crime boss during the 1950s. He was an early villain of Mister Majestic, Team One and many others.
History
When he was fourteen years old, Smith woke up one morning to discover that he was able to see more clearer, move faster and stronger, etc. and those abilities kept growing until he realized he was now a superman. While he was coming to terms with his newfound powers his father - the leader of a small Eastside mob running rackets - was killed by a rival gang. The younger Smith then took over his father's mob and personally killed every member of the gang that had killed his father, and he even ripped the spines out of their bodies. He then turned his mob into an organization and took over New York City.[1] In the years prior to the creation of Team One, Slaughterhouse Smith was ruling the largest criminal empire on the East Coast. He also had the immense edge of being one of the very few known superhumans in which he and his syndicate get away with far more than murder; in the closing months of the 1950s they successfully attacked an Army convoy to acquire an entire shipment of infantry weapons and continued their growth.[1]
At the same time the first American team of extraordinary heroes, Team One, was assembled, Smith was approached by the Daemonite lord in-exile, Helspont. He proposed to Smith a joint venture in which Smith would help him break the human race using their own technology against them, in exchange for domination over whatever was left. Smith agreed to Helspont's alliance and he led his men in helping the alien lord to take over a nuclear missile silo in North Dakota. But Smith soon learned that Helspont planned to order a nuclear strike on Smith's home, New York City. Smith refused to go along with Helspont's plan, demanding that the missiles be aimed at Washington, D.C. instead, where he had no special ties. But Helspont refused to relent and he turned Smith's own men against him. Even Smith's consigliere, Daniel Pike, who had long ago come to the conclusion that betraying Smith would be stupid and counterproductive, was swayed by the alien lord.[2][3] Just as the freshly-assembled and still untrained Team One burst into the base, Slaughterhouse Smith turned his might in equal part against his men, the Daemonites and Team One. But Smith fell in a duel against Saul Baxter, who unleashed a highly potent mental blast on Smith that rendered him into a coma.
Smith remained comatose for thirty-five years in a clandestine medicalised room in a Park Avenue basement, where his faithful valet Ruddock (whom Helspont had never turned against him) kept his boss alive.[4] In 2000, Ruddock learned that Smith's daughter had a son, who had the powers as his grandfather's. Dreaming of revenge against the relatives of Saul Baxter (who was officially dead), Ruddock told Samuel Smith the truth about his grandfather and his powers. But Ruddock only to discover after that Samuel was actually a psychopath and a serial killer. Feeling crushed that he had thus led the Smith family to what would be an ignominious end - feelings worsened by a plot for treason he had conceived at one point and which he was trying to atone for ever since - the aged valet stopped Slaughterhouse Smith's life support equipment and took a suicide pill, dying near the inert form of his master.[4] Samuel Smith, after a number of murders in an attempt to find and kill Mr. Marlowe, the supposed descendant of Saul Baxter, was killed by Grifter.[5]
Despite Ruddock shutting down Smith's life support, this did not killed him. Smith eventually emerged from his coma and returned to being a fearsome crime boss while viewing the modern world with consternation. He also learned about his murderous grandson in which he deeply disapproved of his murders.[6]
Smith was later framed by a superhumans-hating bureaucrat in Stormwatch's HR department for the murders of several former Stormwatch operatives. After learning that Stormwatch PHD is coming for his arrest, Smith simply drink at a bar not too from the precinct house hosting them. When the PHD confronted him, Smith casually disposed of them and collapsed the entire building on them, but the PHD operatives all unexpectedly survived thanks to the Monstrosity - though most had to be hospitalized.[6]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Flight: Smith has the ability to fly at varying speeds from subsonic to sonic speed.
- Superhuman Strength: Slaughterhouse has strength enough to punch through steel, rip a grown man in half, collapse a building complex and lift objects as heavy as gas tankers and semi-trucks.
- Superhuman Durability: Smith is tough enough to withstand trading blows with other superhumans and having a dive complex topple upon his head without injury.
- Enhanced Senses: On the day he got his powers, Smith mentioned that he could see better and hear farther than most other regular joes he knew.
- Energy Projection: Slaughterhouse Smith's abilities allowed him to project beams of concussive energy from his hands & eyes or really any part of his body at will.
- Energy Enhanced Punches: Smith could also keep the energy he normally fires from his hands stored within his fists in order to deliver incredibly powerful punches that can shatter most anything.
Related
- 6 Appearances of Slaughterhouse Smith (Wildstorm Universe)
- 1 Images featuring Slaughterhouse Smith (Wildstorm Universe)
- 2 Quotations by or about Slaughterhouse Smith (Wildstorm Universe)
- Character Gallery: Slaughterhouse Smith (Wildstorm Universe)
Footnotes