Origin

Clayton Cortez is married to Sonia Sung and has a young son and daughter. He was inspired by Captain America to join the military. After his discharge, he worked for defense contractor, Eaglestar International. On one mission, he killed his fellow troops to stop them from perpetuating war-crimes against the villagers of Ujanka for sabotaging a pipeline owned and operated by Roxxon. As punishment, Clayton was sold to the Weapon X program and was experimented on as part of the Batch-H division that was focused on creating hybrid mutant-killing cyborgs using DNA from both Hulk and Wolverine.

Creation

Weapon H was created by Greg Pak, Mike Deadato Jr (design) and first drawn by Robert Gill and first appeared in The Totally Awesome Hulk issue 22 (2017). His silhouette, however, already made cameo appearances in Totally Awesome Hulk 21 and Weapon X Vol. 3 issue 7.

Major Story Arc

Weapon of Mutant Destruction

Unlike the other test subjects in Batch-H, Clayton was not a believer and was treated differently. Dr. Alba left more of Clayton's brain, hoping it would increase the chances of training him. When the Hulk and a Weapon-X strike team attacked the Weapon X headquarters, Clayton, now designated H-Alpha, attacked the intruders as part of his programming. He also decapitated another one of the program's creations, H-Beta. Once the Weapon X staff escaped the rampage, Clayton ceased fighting in order to escape.

After his escape from Hulk and Weapon X, Clayton attacked every branch of Eaglestar in order to destroy all data about him so no one, like Weapon X's director William Stryker, could take advantage of his family - that he could only barely remember - alone. It was while Clayton was doing this that he was brought back under the control of Dr. Alba, thanks to being injected by nanites that could reset his command settings. Dr. Alba then used this control to order Weapon H to prove his power by killing the entire population of Phoenix, Arizona. Wolverine and the Weapon X mutant team were able to break Dr. Alba's control over him, and Clayton resumed his mission of keeping his family safe from those who sought to use them against him.

Contracted by Roxxon

Clay was lying low in Olympic National Park in Washington state, when he came across Roxxon monster experiments. First, a Roxxon agent fed Wendigo jerky to a scientist, turning him into a Ur-Wendigo, and once Roxxon learned of this Weapon H, they sent after a Man-Thing and their many Brood hybrids, including human-hybrid, Blake, to take Weapon H in alive. It was hard fought, but they eventually got the best of him by putting civilians, including his wife, in danger. His impulse to protect them allowed Roxxon’s magic trap to work.

Dario Agger, CEO of Roxxon, offered Clay a job. He needed a monster hunter to exterminate creatures that were escaping from a portal to Weirdworld that Roxxon had opened, looking for new energy resources. Clay made the deal but had some demands. He requested security for his family that they are never used by Roxxon. He requested his new monster friends, including Korg, who was already fighting in Weirdworld, get their freedom. And finally, they only get $10 million for their effort. Agger agreed to all his terms.

In addition to exterminating the monsters, Weapon H agreed to rescue Roxxon employees pinned down in their new power station. There, they were siphoning energy from Morgan Le Fay, who Clay freed. Upon doing so, she brainwashed all nearby monsters including Clay. She forced him to counterattack Roxxon. Sonia was able to snap Clay out of his trance. He held back the invading monsters and forced Agger to give up on his portal.

Clay left with his wife, a new car, and the chance to start over.

Hulkervines

Agger was not too pleased with the deal he cut with Clay, so he decides to set in motion a collision course between Clay, the real Hulk, and the real Wolverine. It involves slipping them information regarding Clay to the two heroes. Indirectly, this also got the attention of Leader and Dr. Alba, who were already tracking Hulk and Wolverine, respectively. Leader infected Clay with a gamma-infused virus that got around his healing factor. When he started sneezing, his family decided to play it safe and go their separate ways. Not long after, both Hulk and Wolverine tracked Clay down, individually.

While both Hulk and Wolverine saw Clay as a danger, he did his best to avoid the two heroes and sniff out the two scientists who seemed to be manipulating them, now that they were working together. Wolverine and Hulk noticed Clay’s behavior and decided to ally with him. Unfortunately, Leader and Alba used Shadow Base’s resources to teleport Hulk and Wolverine to their base and turn them each into a Hulkverine with almost no higher brain function.

They aimed the two rage monsters they created at Clay, but Clay led them back to their creators. Scared they would be caught in the collateral damage, Alba used the kill switch to return them to normal and then teleported away. When the Avengers showed up to contain the situation, they considered all three heroes free to go.

War of Realms

The heroes of the ten realms are fighting against Malekith’s invasion on multiple fronts. Captain Marvel is left in charge of protecting the frontlines on Earth with her “War Avengers,” including Weapon H, who was personally asked by Captain America to be a member of the team.

Absolute Carnage

After the War of Realms, Clay brought his family to Canada where they were lying low. Unfortunately, he was tracked down by his commanding officer from Eaglestar. He and his new strike team were now working for Weapon Plus as Weapon V, bonded with symbiotes. They needed Weapon H to kill Carnage. Carnage had been killing former symbiote hosts on Earth to collect mental codices in preparation for the arrival of Knull, the god of symbiotes.

However, after starting a fight with Carnage, the Weapon V team was sent in as backup. Weapon H decided to stop fighting and let Carnage have the symbiote hosts for himself.

The Hyborian Hunt

Clay was minding his own business when he was attacked by a mugger. He was mistaken for a criminal when Black Knight witnessed him hulk out. As they fight, a stolen madbomb is set off. Due to their savage nature, Clay and Black Knight were not too affected by the weapon and could track it to the thieves. They found a Deathlok fighting Conan the Barbarian, who had already dispatched the cultists who had stolen the madbomb. They tried helping Conan, as did a few other savage heroes, only to accidentally activate the Deathlok time circuits and time travel to the Hyborian Age.

His gamma core reacted badly to the time jump, changing its frequency. This caused Clay to briefly transform into a Red Harpy-style gamma mutate. Clay would eventually get it under control and team up with the other Savage Avengers. Elektra came up with a plan to trap Deathlok so they could use him to get home. Clay's part of the plan was to disrupt Deathlok's gamma core to unbalance his power. Unfortunately, their plan was interrupted by sorcerer, Thulsa Doom, that tortured them with hallucinations so he could kidnap Conan. Clay saw his family persecuted and killed.

After Thulsa Doom's enchantment wears off, Black Knight combines the powers of his team to help them track Conan. This included Clay's ability to change his gamma frequency to become different types of gamma mutates, transforming him into a big brained Leader type. They show up to take on Doom's snake cult, however, Conan was sacrificed to raised the god, Set. Thankfully, Elektra's Hand magic worked on Deathlok and revived the corpse of Miles Morales that was used to create him. Miles adjusted Clay's gamma core again making him a hodge podge of gamma mutations, so that he could fight the god Set.

With Set banished and Doom slain, Miles tried to take the Savage Avengers home.

Escape from Nueva York

Overshooting their target year, Miles ended up depositing himself and the Savage Avengers in the year 2099. In addition, Clay was no longer able to return to human form and was stuck in his typical gray hulk form. They were targeted by Jake Gallows, The Punisher of 2099, and a legion of Deathloks being controlled by Ultron in this time period. Dane led them to the old Avengers Mansion, hoping to lay low and maybe find an old weapon or artifact that they could use to jump home. Instead, they were ambushed by the Deathloks and forced to arm themselves with old Avengers weapons and souvenirs. Clay armed himself specifically with Absorbing Man's ball and chain. When the Deathloks also started targeting Gallows, he reluctantly joined their team.

Once they got to safety, Miles was able to network everyone's minds into cyberspace so that they could break into Ultron's servers and steal datafiles to give them an edge. The data revealed that this variant of an Ultron-enslaved 2099 was due to a piece of Miles' tech that was broken off in his first fight with the Savage Avengers. It also revealed that a 2099 variant of Doctor Doom was a prisoner of Ultron. With their new information, they try to infiltrate Ultron's headquarters in real life from multiple fronts. Most teams are simply distractions for Dagger to get to and recruit Doom.

Doom would direct the Savage Avengers to Latveria, where his Time-Array Gauntlet was being stored. However, Ultron and his forces had set a trap for them. Ultron easily defeated all of these Avengers including overloading Clay's gamma core. Once defeated, they were transformed into Ultron's new Deathlok Avengers, but Miles was able to reach them through cyberspace and help them purge the nanotech from their bodies.

After Elektra recruited a number of "savage avengers" from the year 2099, the team made one last attempt on Ultron. He had Doom's time-gauntlet, and, as they showed up, his time portal was open to the exact moment these Savage Avengers first left their home time. Miles was able to shoot webs through the time portal and retrieve the tech he left behind that led to this version of Ultron. When he destroyed that tech, time fixed itself returning returning 2099 to its normal state and returning the Savage Avengers to the moment they were lost in time.

Character Profile

• Height: 6'1" (as Clay), 7'8" (as Weapon H)
• Weight: 160 lbs (as Clay), 1,505 lbs (as Weapon H)
• Eye Color: Blue (as Clay), Red (as Weapon H)
• Hair Color: Black
• Citizenship: American
• Marital Status: Married
• Occupation: Adventurer; formerly United States marine, security contractor for Eaglestar International, security contractor for Roxxon
• Known Relatives: Sonia Sung (wife), Janice Sung (mother-in-law), Unnamed daughter, Unnamed son
• Distinguishing features: As Weapon H, Clay's skin turns grey and has multiple adamantium spikes sticking out of his shoulders and biceps. He also has three adamantium claws in both hands.

Powers and Skills

Military Veteran: Clay was a trained and highly experienced United States Marine

Gamma Mutate: Clay has variable strength based on his anger. He shapeshifts gray and increases in size when using that strength. He is capable of many of Hulk's feats, including distance leaping and thunder clap. He is also a source of gamma radiation and presumably could use the Green Door to exit the Below Place.

• Gamma Frequency: When he time travelled to the Hyborian Age, Clay was able to adjust his gamma frequency to become different types of gamma mutates, including a red harpy type (like Betty Ross) or a big brain type (like Leader).

Weapon X: Clay has an enhanced healing factor. His skeleton was been laced with adamantium, which is controlled by nano technology. The nanobots help regulate the adamantium lacing during size changes.