MAJOR DEEJ UNIVERSE

Ivan Usov has been alive since 1921...and still looks to be 30.

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Ivan's father was a soldier in World War I and was exposed to an experimental mutagenic gas (X-65) that Kaiser Germany mixed into their mustard gas mortars. Ivan's father lived until 1924, most of the time, in poor health after his exposure to the gas.  Working on a collective farm, Ivan grew up in harsh labor conditions.

 

In 1938, Ivan enlisted in the Soviet Army as an infantryman.  In the first few years of World War II in Europe, Ivan saw limited action since most of the countries the Soviet Union invaded simply capitulated rather than fought. It wasn't until his first real combat in Lithuania that he became a Soviet hero.  Amidst the anti-Semitic actions being conducted and the coercion of the Lithuanian Nazi-appointed government, many factions of Lithuanian resistance fighters emerged to a deadly degree. Many Soviet troops and officers specifically were sniped and killed by the resistance fighters.  Sergeant Ivan Usov was in such a situation fighting with the Lithuanian resistance fighters when he was shot point blank in the chest.  Rather than die, instead he lived. When examined, Ivan didn't have a scratch on him.  The Soviet Army immediately pulled Ivan back to the Soviet Command HQ and tested him, only to find out his physiology was quite different.  His skin was strong enough to take a direct impact of 0.50 caliber machine gun shots; anything larger did leave a mark on his skin as if he'd be stung by a mosquito.  The Soviet Command even fired an artillery shell at Ivan; the shell's explosive impact knocked Ivan unconscious with a big bruise on his chest but he was right back on his feet in mere minutes.

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Astounded at their find, the Soviet leadership wanted to find a way to replicate his condition, however, with Nazi Germany turning on the Soviet Union, Russian scientists were instead on the run with the rest of their city populace evading German capture.  As it was, the Soviet military instead put him in the front lines to help bolster the morale of the troops.  There, with a Kalashnikov machine gun, grenades and a simplistic propagandized Soviet factory worker's outfit, the man who would be known as "Comrade Ivan" came to be.  In one major battle for Stalingrad, the Soviet Army was low on weapons and ammunition.  Ivan gave his machine gun to a fellow soldier and instead picked up a blacksmith's hammer and a military knife and dove into fighting the Nazi troops.  Revered and portrayed as a symbol of Soviet strength and duty, Comrade Ivan quickly became a national symbol.

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Throughout the rest of the war, Ivan did what needed to be done for the good of the Motherland. When told to run out into a squad of Nazi riflemen, he did.  When told to go out and destroy a Nazi artillery battery, he did.  All for Mother Russia.

 

Throughout the war, propaganda posters emerged everywhere depicting Comrade Ivan as a 'comrade of the people', making him an affable yet tough Soviet man.  Ivan encountered other super-powered combatants during the war, including others from his own country.  Dozens of times though he encountered Nazi Germany's "Axis Force" and their super-powered team.  Although Ivan usually left quite an impact against Axis Force, he was usually beaten with tactics and sound strategy by Baron Berlin, the Axis Force leader. Regardless, Ivan was a human tank when it came to his actions on the battlefield; coupled with the Soviet troops' admiration for his actions, he quickly became a war legend. At war's end, Ivan was awarded a golden hammer and sickle (ok, it was gold plated steel). He was also given a forged steel shield with the Soviet hammer and sickle emblem emblazoned on it.  Humbly, Ivan gave back his hammer and sickle "for the people", where it was on display in the Moscow Museum of Heroes until 1995.  Ivan did, however, keep the shield.  Although a great symbol through the war, Comrade Ivan, in the post-war era became nothing more than a propaganda tool and symbol of of a Soviet Union that once was.

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From the end of WWII to the 1980s, Ivan was routinely used for propaganda purposes, ceremonies and staged meetings with Soviet politicians and the occasional 'hard working', dutiful soviet worker, soldier or child.  During that time, scientists continued to poke and prod Ivan to unlock the secrets of his mutation. Although they tried numerous times, they were never able to replicate his DNA or synthesize his unique condition. This, according to unconfirmed sources, also led to him being required to 'bed' hundreds of women and possibly sire hundreds of children...of course, all in the name of science. To this day, no one has discovered if any of his children obtained powers from him. All files regarding anyone 'procreating' with him is still considered 'classified' by the state's equivocal KGB today.

 

During that time, the scientists also discovered Ivan only aged 1 year for every 5 since age 14, he was still (relatively) a young man (Ivan's true age in 2015 would have been 94 while instead he was physically that of a 30 year old). In the 1980s, tired of the testing and rhetoric, Ivan eventually left his apartment in Moscow one day and made his way back to work on his family's dilapidated collective farm.  There, he shod horses, grew, reaped and culled wheat and fixed tractors on the farm.  Regardless of wanting to be left alone on the collective farm, the Soviet propagandists became even more adept at showing off Ivan as the 'simple farmer' and a new call for people to serve on other waning collective farms.  Although irritated by the propaganda, Ivan knew it was made for the good of the Soviet Union, even though he felt he could do more good in battle with the military than being a Soviet poster-boy. By 1989, however, the Soviet Union fell, and as such, Ivan stayed on the farm, working long hard hours to help his comrade community members year to year when the markets faltered and there was starvation in most towns and cities.  On a few occasions, some Russian mafia thugs attempted to steal Comrade Ivan's farming collective's food, only to be beaten to death by Ivan, much to the cheers of the collective. As such, they all took care of each other...until the Soltans invaded.

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In 2000, the Soltan Star Empire invaded Earth. Most major Russian cities were destroyed or severely damaged as a result of the invasion. Rather than go fight, he was begged to stay and help by the families of the collective farm, including a woman whom Ivan had a love interest with.  As such, since no one from the government tried (or was capable of) contacting Ivan, he remained on the farm. Ivan's collective farm wasn't even visited by the Soltans until April, three months after the start of the invasion. When the Soltans did arrived, Comrade Ivan fought them with everything he had, but sadly, it wasn't enough. He was forced to watch as each member in the farming collective, men, women and children, were summarily executed for their resistance.  No one in the collective survived except Ivan.  Ivan was beaten so severely that when he was found a week later by other evacuees from nearby collective farms, he was on the brink of death.  As such, it took well into late 2001 before Ivan was even able to stand nonetheless heal, which, by that time, the world had driven off the Soltan invaders.

 

In mid 2002, Ivan was finally well enough to be released from the hospital.  The Russian Federation, considering Comrade Ivan as merely an old relic of the old Soviet regime (and had cost them a lot for hospitalization and psycho-therapy over the trauma), ignored Ivan's offer to help the nation. Instead, Ivan, with a heavy and guilty heart (thinking he alone was the cause of all the collective's deaths during the invasion), went back to his old collective farm...only to find that it was now a new strip club with several other pubs and private clubs built since the invasion's end.  Ivan simply sat in the mud in front of what was once his collective farmhouse and started wasting away, starving himself to death...wishing for death, after seeing his once mighty Soviet Union become no more.

 

A week into his fasting, Comrade Ivan was met by the legendary WWII Soviet military hero, Generalissimus Semyon Budennii. Ivan immediately recognized him from his WWII films and pictures, stood up and came to attention with a salute to the Generalissumus.  The Generalissimus returned the salute proudly and rather than dismiss Ivan as a 'relic', the Generalissumus said that the Soviet people are the ones that should be saluting Comrade Ivan for his years of dedication and duty to Mother Russia.  The Generalissimus insisted that Ivan join him for dinner.  That night, the two talked about the good old days of Soviet power and and how the current government was about to meekly capitulated to capitalism.  Ivan wept at the table.  Saddened by what he'd just been told, Ivan told his host that all he wanted was for things to go back to the days of the Soviet Union's greatness.  That's when the Generalissimus offered Ivan a new job - to become a member of the elite superheroes of the Red Guard (AKA Soviet Guard). He told Ivan of how the Red Guard and the Red Guard Army of over 300,000 die-hard Soviet soldiers were staged outside of Moscow ready to take back control of the Soviet Union from the nation's current and corrupt government officials.  Initially, Ivan was unsure of taking down the government like this, but after more discussions, Ivan became convinced that the Generalissimus was right; it was time for a new revolution to take back Mother Russia.  With that, Ivan went with the Generalissimus and met the superheroes of the Red Guard a few miles outside of Moscow.

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On the day the Soviet Union officially fell, the Generalissimus, the Red Guard Army and the Red Guard superheroes were to take over the Kremlin and the Premiere's offices, however, an unexpected incident occurred from a communications snafu between the Generalissimus and the Red Guard Army, causing half the Red Guard to unconditionally 'surrender' to the new Russian Federation. Comrade Ivan was 'ordered' to go to a concrete and steel bunker where he was to stay until a code-word was given; this was all part of a setup to stop the Red Guard and the Generalissimus from taking over the newly formed  Russian Federation. With only half an army, the Generalissimus knew he'd easily lose at any chance to take over Moscow.  Instead, he tasked his forces to steal every piece of military hardware and state secret they could get their hands on.  Ivan was eventually broken out of his concrete prison by the Generqalissimus and his loyal Red Guard troops all of whom made their way to an old secretive defunct listening post in Greenland where they set up their base of operations. Incidentally, the communications 'snafu' that happened with the Red Guard troops was later found to be caused by the United States' CIA and the legendary Special Agent John Brown AKA WWII Legendary hero Major Invader. Agent Brown sent Red Guard troops and super-powered beings, acting as the Generalissimus over their radios,  to locations where they'd either have to surrender to Russian Federation troops or wound up imprisoning themselves.  The Generalissimus swore one day he'd get revenge on Major Invader for his actions.

 

With Comrade Ivan back amongst the Red Guard troops, morale became high.  As such, Ivan became invigorated by the Red Guard's dutiful response to bringing back the Soviet Union, and as such, drew on a new, positive outlook on life, ready to be the icon and 'comrade' that he needed to be for the troops and what was to be a new Soviet Union. For the first time since working the collective farm, Ivan was happy. 

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Not long after this, the Red Guard, under the orders of their vaunted leader, the Generalissimus, invaded the recently liberated Lithuania.  The Red Guard were cruel and harsh to the Lithuanians, forcing them into labor camps, working night and day on projects for the Generalissimus.  Many died on the factory floors.  Children no older than 8 years of age were forced into child labor camps.  Families were separated and throughout the occupation, the Generalissimus grew more evil and power hungry.  Ivan attempted to confront the Generalissimus telling him that what they were doing was wrong, only to be chastised for his 'limited understanding' of the needs of a new Soviet Union. As such, Ivan complied, but when no one was looking, he would bring bread and/or water to those in dire need, especially the children. Eventually, the Red Guard was driven out of Lithuania by resistance fighters (and many other covert personnel from around the world), but not before Ivan was severely wounded in staving off the resistance forces from almost capturing the Generalissimus as the Red Guard retreated.  Ivan was taken prisoner and kept in a hospital in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius for a month before he was 'extracted' by a special Red Guard team and taken back to their secret base in Greenland.

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Thererafter, Comrade Ivan recovered and once again became the symbol of the Red Guard (later renamed the Soviet Guard). He maintained his dedication to the Soviet idealism, but has a soft spot for the children, of which the only few raised in the Greenland base consider him 'Uncle Ivan'.

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Today, Comrade Ivan continues to be a true hero and symbol of the Soviet Guard and the troops and comrades that expect to reform the Soviet Union.  Posters and old propaganda has been made anew in the dark recesses of Russia, spouting recruiting rhetoric of Comrade Ivan's past, and current, deeds and the push to 'bring back the powerful nation that it once was'. Ivan is a staunch supporter of the team and the Generalissimus and would give his life to any and all.  When in downtime, he still finds a way to go to the hydroponics bay and do a little 'farming' which he states is 'good for the Soviet soul'. He still treats children with the greatest kindness and still hopes that one day, he will find a woman to love once again.

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