History

"Know where you are now, Fatso? In the old days, they called it the Killing Floor. That's right. Livestock. On the hoof. By the dozens. Herded in, single file... to face one man... with a Very Big Hammer!"

While deep undercover investigating one of Keystone City's criminal organizations using the alias Nick Kelly, federal agent Nick Kovak was attacked by a Bloodlines Parasite named Venev, which changed his body genetic chemistry, and gave him special powers. Still not sure what to make of it all, Kovak continued the investigations and using his new abilities took down a division of Keystone City's crime boss's. Keeping his new attributes, a secret and deciding to retain that secrecy he decided to develop a masked identity. Hence with a re-outfitted armory suit and spoils from the FBI's weaponry Kovak created the guise of Argus.

He later worked with Flash when Central City was attacked by armed satellites. He also worked with the Blood Pack; a team of superheroes formed out of the survivors of the alien attacks.

During the Infinite Crisis, a worldwide supervillain breakout occurred, a part of a long-term plan. Argus, working alongside other heroes such as Vixen, did his part by subduing the Mad Hatter. Argus was revealed to be a patient in a S.T.A.R. Labs facility, left blind and powerless after having his eyes removed. The culprit was initially identified by Doctor Mid-Nite as a resurfaced Ultra-Humanite, but it later turned out to have been done at the behest of the long-thought-dead actress Delores Winters, now calling herself Endless Winter.

Doctor Mid-Nite retrieved Argus' eyes from an actor named Billy, seemingly leaving him blind. The eyes were returned, and the wounded hero awaited re-attachment surgery. Doctor Mid-Nite believed that Argus's healing factor (which previously allowed him to grow new eyes) would help Argus make a full recovery. Argus would eventually heal from his injuries. Argus, Anima. and Gunfire would confront Prometheus in a losing battle. Argus would be the only one of three not to have much trauma inflicted on him. Gunfire lost his hands when Prometheus severed them. Anima, already in a state of shock was ripped in half when Prometheus left for his hidden domain.

Personality

Argus was originally a suave, cool maverick. He's quite articulate, and was prone to being a smartass, classy chatter and sarcastic repartee in the middle of combat. He became less fanciful as time went by and became closer to his father's values. As he became more focused and businesslike, he stopped with the magic tricks and tended to dress like a mad man or a spook, with black suit, shades and a tie.

Trained as an FBI special agent, he acts with professionalism, carefully analyzing situations like a trained law-enforcement professional and counting on his training to get him out of bad situations.

Being very familiar with undercover work, Nick prefers Argus to remain a shadowy presence, operating in the night and staying under the radar.

Nick was haunted by deep guilt over the death of his father and was torn between his father's values (hard work, honesty, integrity, responsibility) and the privileged life he enjoyed as a daring criminal lieutenant. Juggling identities and the constant risk of death by execution wasn’t easy either. When the d'angelo empire crashed, he discovered the truth about his father’s death.

Argus will rarely pass up an occasion to say something snarky about the Flash, usually to imply that he's a showoff and an idiot.

Powers and Paraphernalia

Powers

Physicals - Nick has been physically enhanced to be 5 times normal in strength, speed and agility.

Argus vision - Nick sees all the electromagnetic spectrum. Infra-red, Ultraviolet, x-ray and radios waves. His vision also allows him to see through deceptions and perceive the truth in things. with it he has been able to code break, see through illusions, predictive sight to see outcomes about to happen of current events, and movement read. He has also been able to see the weaknesses in armor and things and see how things fit together.

Shadow Meld - Nick is able to meld with shadows to be completely invisible.

Healing factor - Nick has an enhanced healing factor that has allowed him to regenerate eyes after they were gouged out and to heal from 3rd degree burns almost immediately.

Gear

• He wears a leather Teflon fiber weave as armor.
• Carries a titanium alloy nunchaku (heavy as all get out).
• Carries sonic grenades and sonic ear filters to protect him.

Alternate version

In the alternate world of earth 16, Argus is a veteran member of the Justice League of America.