Anthony Masterson was just a normal English schoolteacher who was accidentally exposed to gamma radiation during testing of Gamma Bombs by the U.S. government. The radiation appeared to kill Tony, but he arose every night hungry for the energy he could drain from living bodies. A woman is walking down the street alone when Half-Life steps out and starts talking to her like she is his wife. He grabs her and drains all her life energy until she is dead. He then says that she is not Barbara and heads off to find another person to drain and kill. Down in the Leader's hidden base, the Leader remembers a conversation he had with Half-Life a few hours ago. Half-life offers to help steal gamma bombs for the Leader but the Leader brings up Half-Life's first mission where he was defeated by the Grey Hulk. The Leader tells Half-Life that if he can kill the Hulk, he can help steal the bombs. The Leader attaches a camera to the front of Half-Life's outfit so he can observe what happens. Half-life starts to attack another woman but the screaming alerts the Grey Hulk who starts feeling weak as he approaches. Half-life jumps on the Hulk and grips him tightly and tells the him that he is protected by titanium armor that Hulk is now too weak to damage. Half-life continues to weaken the Hulk until Rick Jones comes up from behind and wacks Half-Life in the head with a shovel, allowing the Hulk to throw him off. Weak, scared and vulnerable, Hulk is about to flee when one of the people who lives in town asks the Hulk if he is scared. This angers the Hulk a little and he takes the fight back to Half-Life. Hulk grabs a telephone pole and starts to hit Half-Life but Half-Life has already drained enough energy to make him strong. He jumps for the Hulk but the Hulk leaps high up in the air first and comes down landing right on top of Half-Life. Half-Life just crawls back up threw the dirt and starts to absorb more energy from the Hulk. The Hulk starts to wither as Half-Life continues to absorb more energy. Half-Life has stolen most of the Hulk's energy and states how he can go back to teaching and his wife and a normal life. The Hulk tells Half-Life how people will be terrified of him and that eventually the energy he stole from the Hulk will wear off and he will be back to what he was before or even worse. The Hulk reminds him that is how he has allows lived. Half-Life can't think to live that way so he just releases all the energy he just stole and apparently kills himself.[3]
Powers and abilities[]
The first Half-Life is an extraterrestrial with the ability to age any living being, through touching, halfway to the point that he or she would eventually die of old age, through their full life span (one would presume "remaining" lifespan, thus stealing half of their life). Multiple contacts with Half-Life result in death for the victim. However, the aging effect she has is not immediately permanent and if she loses consciousness fast enough (within a few minutes) her victims will revert to their normal ages. Half-Life also has the ability to manipulate the "weak force" to disintegrate inorganic material, including matter/energy constructs. She has the ability to generate unspecified intense radiation, producing sufficient heat to melt steel. Half-Life possesses invulnerability to the effects of her own powers, as well as intense heat and atomic radiation. Her costume is made of alien materials that are proof against the effects of her power.
The second Half-Life is a vampire-like creature who drains life energy from living beings in order to sustain himself. He is capable of rendering even very powerful beings like the Hulk very weak. In his natural state, he looked like a zombie, but when he absorbs a life he temporarily appears young and handsome.
In other media[]
Video games[]
- The second Half-Life was also featured in the Hulk video game voiced by Lee Tockar. This incarnation was the first level boss, and looked different from his comic incarnation: looking more like a bald-headed, vampire-like creature rather than the green-skinned zombie of the comics. Half-Life appears in two different areas.