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Mark Shaw, also known as Leviathan and formerly as Manhunter, was the leader of the clandestine terrorist Leviathan Organization.
History
Shaw as a Manhunter
Heroic Origin
Mark Shaw was a human recruit for the Manhunter Cult who formerly worked as a US marshal. The cult's motto and mission is that nobody escapes them. Manhunter was tasked with and succeeded at finding the criminal Al Beefer with Forager and Deadman.
During his heroic career, he was recruited into Checkmate, briefly running it, and later the Suicide Squad for a few missions. He soon became a top spy and also worked for A.R.G.U.S. but became disillusioned with the way the world was at an unknown point of time.
Leviathan
Years later, he joined the Leviathan Organization along with his long time ally, Guardian but after seeing how weak it had become after its syndicate war he took the opportunity to lead a coup and took the name Leviathan after overthrowing its previous leader, Talia al Ghul, though he offered her a partnership in running the organization.
Shaw knew Clark Kent was Superman and freed him when Talia kidnapped him, thinking Superman will come to rescue Clark and could be used indirectly to help her take down Shaw. He later threw Talia from aboard his ship for treason. His first act as the new leader was to destroy all the other shadow organizations such as D.E.O, A.R.G.U.S, Checkmate, and Spyral. Sam Lane and Amanda Waller were also nearly assassinated.
After Superman went off-world, Shaw put his plans in further motion. He believed that the world had become a broken mess with a lot of dirty secrets that he decided to expose. His actions led to the assembly of Lois Lane and a team of detectives consisting of Batman, Green Arrow, Kate Spencer, Question, and Plastic Man in order to stop him. He later found and confronted Waller in Cuba. Superman found Waller and confronted Leviathan, but Shaw easily stopped him with an energy matrix that drained his powers in seconds before disappearing with Waller.
Shaw reveals himself as Leviathan to Superman
After Superman recovered in the Batcave, Lois Lane met her other team of detectives consisting of Deathstroke, Elongated Man, Harvey Bullock, John Constantine and The Question. Superman while trying to locate Batgirl, who had pretended to join Leviathan after being captured, was teleported by Shaw to his location and de-powered with the help of Spyral technology.
Shaw also succeeded in having Sam Lane killed after a Leviathan agent blew up the room of hospital he was in. Meanwhile, he talked to Clark, stating they both wanted a better world and showed how the government has created weapons against his son despite all the good he has done. He confessed he already knows he'll never join him and told Clark he knew about his recent experiences with Jor-El, asking him to let him fix the world before revealing his identity as Leviathan to him. Thanking him for all he has done, he also informed him of Sam's death and his plan to reveal all the official secrets.
His plan however backfired as Batman's and Lois' teams were able to discover his location with Kate's Manhunter staff, causing Shaw and the rest of the organization to escape. Batgirl however had stolen Leviathan's hard drive containing all government secrets, thus spoiling his plans on exposing them. Lois was later able to expose him with the help of Superman, causing him to reevaluate his options and begin a campaign of destruction to achieve his goals.
Leviathan Dawn
Shaw later pretended to ally with the Legion of Doom, stating to Lex Luthor that Lois only revealed his identity because he wanted her to. The two agreed to assist each other in taking down Superman and the Justice League with the help of Red Cloud in Metropolis so Superman had to restrain himself during the fight. While the superheroes and Legion of Doom were busy fighting, Shaw betrayed his allies as he saw people like Luthor a part of the problem with the world, teleporting the Legion away to a far off place instead of attacking the League.[1]
Sometime after the battle in Metropolis, Shaw presumably obilerated Dr. Netz for giving Leviathan's technology to Waller and decided to make another power-play. Leviathan soon bought Markovia and appealed to everyone around the world for help in fixing the world.[2]
Checkmate
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Powers and Abilities
Powers
Abilities
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Mark can easily kill multiple armed man in few seconds.[3]
- Stealth: Mark can kill multiple targets without making a sound.[3]
- Deception
- Leadership
- Disguise
- Tactical Analysis
- Demolitions: Mark is an expert in the use of explosives.[4]
- Swimming: Mark is an adept swimmer, able to swim under a ship even while wearing his Manhunter armor.[4]
- Firearms: Shaw is a skilled sniper.[5]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Energy Negation devices
- Invisibility Suit
- Teleportation device
Notes
- Mark Shaw was created by Jack Kirby, first appearing in 1st Issue Special #5. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Mark Shaw first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Wonder Woman (Volume 4) #23.1: The Cheetah by John Ostrander and Victor Ibáñez.
Related
- 48 Appearances of Mark Shaw (Prime Earth)
- 28 Images featuring Mark Shaw (Prime Earth)
- 10 Quotations by or about Mark Shaw (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Mark Shaw (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
  This character has been primarily an enemy of Superman in any of his various incarnations, or members of the Superman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Superman Villains category." |
 Batman Villain(s) |
 This character, team, or organization, has been primarily an enemy of Supergirl. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Supergirl Villains category." |
 This character has been primarily an enemy of Green Arrow, or his supporting cast including Black Canary and Team Arrow. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Green Arrow Villains." |
 Suicide Squad member |
 This character was a member of the top secret government organization Checkmate. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Checkmate members" and "Government Agents" categories. |
 A.R.G.U.S. member |