Madam Zero was born on the Northern Continent of Super Earth One, a planet discovered by 22nd Century scientist Dr. Jessica Beck and her expedition team, when they attempted to travel back in time. Before becoming the planet’s foremost hyper-villain and the leader of the Army of Shadows, Madam Zero was known as Little Dilemma. As a girl, her parents had been killed by the cosmic villain, War Chess, who then took her prisoner.
Dilemma had a hyper-healing hyper-ability, which allowed her to quickly recover from bodily harm. War Chess wanted this power for himself, and for nearly ten quantics he conducted hundreds of experiments on Dilemma, in an attempt to understand the power, and hopefully replicate it. Many of these procedures were extremely painful, as he would bring in different hyper-beings and force them to unleash their powers on her. Then, as her body healed, he would examine the processes. It was an absolutely miserable time for Dilemma, who grew despondent and distant, as the experiments became more and more painful.
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Madam Zero has enhanced strength, speed and agility. She can emit blasts of energy from her hands and battle axe. She can also control a special energy called the Darklight, which gives her an array of mystical and magical powers, as well as some psionic abilities, such as telepathy and telekinesis. She also has the ability to heal instantly from almost any sort of physical damage, and can absorb most types of energy. She is a master tactician, and a formidable hand-to-hand combatant.
Despite her anguish, Dilemma remained focused on keeping her sanity and resolve. Finally, when she was 19 quantics old, War Chess was able to develop the power he so desperately wanted, and he left her in a lab while he began his reign as one of the most dangerous villains on Super Earth One and beyond, eventually taking up residence on Marz Zeta.
In time, Dilemma broke out of the lab, and found an abandoned building where she could recover and plot the destruction of War Chess. Unfortunately, she never got a chance to enact her revenge, as War Chess was eventually defeated and cast out into deep space by the supreme hero Michael Xander Hope, with the help of Infinity Force members Max Galaxy, Decibel and Spectra. But not all was lost, for once Dilemma did recover, she found that the experiments had molded her into an extremely formidable hyper-being. Her anger and aggression made her a natural recruit for the Army of Shadows, and during the Hyper-Human War she was on the front lines as humans were wiped from the planet.
After the Hyper-Human War, she continued to work with CodeName Zero until he was destroyed by Captain Infinity and Centuria, breaking the Army of Shadows and sending them into hiding for many quantics. This turn of events, however, provided an opportunity for Dilemma, especially after discovering the mysterious Darklight energy source, deep in the forest of the Northern Continent. After harnessing and learning to control it, her powers and abilities grew exponentially. She took on the name Madam Zero, and began rebuilding the Army of Shadows.
She created a base of operations called the Shadow Forest, and began to spread a message throughout Super Earth One that she could save the planet from the demise prophesied by Captain Infinity. This brought even more hyper-beings into the shadows, and her army grew and grew. It was Max Galaxy, Decibel and Spectra who eventually and initially found the Shadow Forest. Despite their considerable powers, however, she ambushed them and took them prisoner. She then infected them with the Darklight energy – which gave her control of their minds – and sent them to attack the Infinity Fortress.
Captain Infinity and the Infinity Force were able to thwart their attack, and eventually took the three infected heroes prisoner, until they could figure out how to rid them of the Darklight. Madam Zero, however, would save them the trouble, as she herself would infiltrate the Infinity Fortress and absorb the Darklight from them herself – a mission she was able to pull off flawlessly after interrogating Crosscheck, who had been captured in the Shadow Forest by Arrowhead and Hunter Grey.
She had allowed a portion of the Darklight to dwell within them, as a test to see how it would affect heroes. The test was successful, and now with her energy fully restored she returned to the Shadow Forest to carry out the next – and in her mind, final – phase of her plan: to inject The Core Source of the planet with the Darklight energy.
She had to be stopped. Captain Infinity called together Doc Diligence, Winter Rose, Radiance, Crosscheck, Miranda Miracle, and the rest of the Infinity Force, and informed them of their mission. He also released Max Galaxy, Decibel and Spectra from their cells, as they were now free of infection, and ready to help. Despite the presence of the Infinity Force’s full complement, they would still be outnumbered going into the Shadow Forest. But either way they had to try, even if it meant they would be risking their lives.
A few hours later the Infinity Force descended on the Shadow Forest and as suspected, Madam Zero’s entire Army of Shadows was waiting for them, including Night Blitz, Arrowhead, Hunter Grey, Spring Lily, Summer Sage, Touchscreen and more. The clash was epic, as the two sides battled ferociously. The Infinity Force, however, was not able to break through to where Madam Zero was feeding the Darklight into the Source. In fact, the heroes were beginning to feel the effects of the mega-villain’s actions, as the ground beneath them began to emit a sinister red aura. If they didn’t stop her soon, the planet would surely be engulfed by the Darklight.
All hope seemed lost… until suddenly The Centurians arrived on the scene. Captain Infinity turned to Centuria, Sapphire Shade, Eclipse and Fracture, not sure of their intentions. Centuria immediately expressed her desire to help the heroes. She then told her brother that if they were going to win this fight, they would have to do things her way. The Captain thought for a moment, then agreed to follow her lead, and with that the Centurians launched a vicious assault against the bad guys, throwing them off guard, putting them on their heels, and breaking through their defenses. This allowed Captain Infinity to go deeper into the Shadow Forest and find Madam Zero.
She turned to him, brandished her ax and charged! They crossed blades in an earth-shattering clash, and after a back-and-forth battle Captain Infinity was able to find an opening and disable the Darklight-Source integration, thus stopping Madam Zero’s master plan, and saving Super Earth One from eternal darkness. The supreme villainess, however, had rigged a darklight bomb to explode if she found herself compromised. Captain Infinity called for Centuria, so the two of them could combine their powers and use their ultimate ability, the Chronicle Wave, to stop the bomb. But she was too far away.
Fortunately, Sapphire Shade recognized what was happening, and used her extreme speed to bolt over, grab the bomb, and get it to a safe distance. However, as she took hold of the device, it went off! But thanks to the hyper-slipstream caused by Sapphire’s speed, the darklight explosion was shielded from affecting everyone… except Sapphire herself. The speedy hero absorbed the blast, and was knocked unconscious.
The other Infinity Force Members came to her side, as Madam Zero and the Army of Shadows regrouped and retreated. A few days later Sapphire Shade awoke, but her hyper-abilities were gone, meaning that she was the first regular human on Super Earth One since the days of the Hyper-Human War.
Captain Infinity vowed that she would be protected, and Centuria vowed that she would find a way to get her fellow Centurian’s powers back. Meanwhile, Madam Zero began plotting her next diabolical plan…