Foes of the Superwomen of EVA #21: Rampage
"Chigusa Matsumoto, a shy, somewhat-reserved, twenty-something elementary school teacher, was ironically the self-described 'black sheep' of a family with a background in, of all things, professional wrestling. In spite of this, Chigusa genuinely loved her job and cared for the children under her tutelage. The only way anyone could really cross her was if either her students were threatened, or if she heard anything that even remotely reminded her of wrestling, mostly if it was the sound of a bell similar to the kind used in wrestling rings; once she'd hear the sound or statement in question, she'd start trash-talking whoever it was that was pushing her buttons at the time with a fervor that would make even the most hardened wrestlers shrink back in surprise.
Chigusa's life underwent a startling change when she took her class on a field trip to the newly-opened Japanese branch of the U.S.-based S.T.A.R. Labs in Tokyo-3, which had been going on a year since the defeat of the otherworldly menaces codenamed 'Angels' and the thwarting of the dueling world-ending conspiracies of SEELE and Gendo Ikari. Her class's tour was personally guided by the branch's lead scientist, Dr. Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu (secretly the bioelectrically-powered superhero Strange Visitor), who'd taken the position with a recommendation from her former colleague at the German branch, American scientist Prof. Emil Hamilton. It was at one point during the tour that Kyoko showed Chigusa and her class an experimental machine known as a Bio-Energy Actualizer, developed by one Dr. Karen Lou "Kitty" Faulkner at the U.S. S.T.A.R. Labs branch; it had been brought to the Japanese branch for further testing and refinement. According to Kyoko's conversations with Dr. Faulkner, the device worked by stimulating the photosynthetic growth cycle of stored algae, causing the specimens to reproduce at an alarming rate, producing millions of watts of electricity in the process; if perfected, the device would be the biggest step towards getting humanity into more pollution-free energy sources. It was while explaining the process involved that Kyoko found herself interrupted by the argumentative voice of a colleague at the facility, the cantankerous Dr. Tomoyuki Moya, who had been speaking with a reporter visiting the lab at the time. Moya (out of a sense of professional jealousy) was dead-set on proving that the Bio-Energy Actualizer wasn't nearly as safe as both Kyoko and Faulkner had outlined, and demonstrated his notion by shutting off one of its power regulators, only for the lab's automatic safety systems to kick in and turn it back on.
While Kyoko and Chigusa both vehemently scolded Dr. Moya over his irresponsible actions, no one noticed the slight power flux that occurred in-between the shutdown of the power regulator and the safety lockdown. Her senses picking up on the energy buildup, Kyoko shouted for the children to be evacuated, along with any other personnel present. Just as the group managed to get out of the lab, a massive explosion tore through the facility, with Chigusa (having been the last to reach the door) accidentally caught in the blast and buried under a pile of debris. Kyoko managed to protect the others using her own energy powers, but the radiation from the blast enveloped Chigusa, causing her to undergo an astonishing transformation into an eight-foot-tall, muscular amazon of a woman with yellow-orange skin and a large mane of red hair. Meanwhile, across town, Kyoko's daughter, Asuka (a former Evangelion pilot for the since-disbanded U.N. special agency NERV), heard the roar of the explosion all the way at her school, and after quickly getting herself excused, swiftly changed into her own super-powered alter-go of Supergirl to go investigate the cause. On arriving at the facility, she and her mother used their powers to put out the fires and clear the smoke. Once done, the transformed Chigusa, disoriented and confused, emerged from the debris pile she was buried under and grabbed Asuka, where she proceeded to start thrashing her about with a strength that allowed her to go toe-to-toe with the Girl of Steel. As Asuka and Kyoko continued to fight Chigusa, the Actualizer process began affecting the transformed teacher more and more, causing her to grow taller and stronger. She began to run amok throughout the Tokyo-3 streets, with the press (unknowing of her real identity) dubbing her "Rampage". When both Sohryus attempted to fly her away from the city, she managed to wriggle herself out of their grasp and renewed her brawl with them; the Sohryus would then be assisted by a few members of the superhero team they'd helped form, the Justice League, when word of the fight reached them. At one point in the fight, Kyoko realized that the Actualizer process was also affecting Asuka, with her daughter's solar cells replicating at a great rate of speed. Catching onto this as well, her teammate Blue Beetle (former NERV head scientist Ritsuko Akagi) theorized that the solar radiation empowering Asuka was a sort of buffer against Rampage's great strength. Both instructed Asuka to keep a firm hold of the raging superwoman, allowing her to absorb as much of the radiation in Chigusa as she could; the plan succeeded, with Rampage changing back into Chigusa and Asuka flying into the upper atmosphere to bleed off the excess radiation.
Months later after her ordeal, Chigusa fell ill and was rushed to S.T.A.R. Labs-Japan for an examination performed by Kyoko. It was discovered that, thanks to the changes to her physiology brought on by the Actualizer, Chigusa now needed exposure to certain amounts of solar and cosmic radiation to survive. Kyoko and Dr. Moya were able to outfit her with a device of their own invention, a choker that would regulate the proper exposure levels for her. Moya, however, secretly implanted a component that would allow him to remotely trigger Chigusa's transformation into Rampage-having learned of her particular 'pet peeve', the component was a small sound box that would play, at his command, the sound of a wrestling ring's bell. He then secretly turned Chigusa into Rampage and used her to sabotage the parliamentary campaign of politician Haruo Fukusawa, an old friend of Moya's whose hypocritical sense of morality he'd come to resent greatly. Following a number of attacks that were thwarted by not only Supergirl and Strange Visitor, but also their fellow League member Starwoman (former NERV scientist Hitomi Kaga, who also happened to be a former high school classmate of Chigusa's), the three heroes managed to free Rampage from Moya's control, which led to him being jailed (along with Fukusawa after his shady dealings were brought to light). With the help of some of the League's other scientifically-minded members, Chigusa's control choker was modified significantly, allowing her to not only control her transformation but also retain her intellect while in Rampage form.
To better help her hone her newfound sense of control over her abilities, Kyoko offered Chigusa a position at S.T.A.R. Labs-Japan as a member of their educational programs department, which among other things puts on presentations and other activities at schools across Japan. Chigusa accepted and took to the job easily, becoming friends along the way with researcher Dr. Douru Zoda; the two bonded, in particular, over their shared experience of gaining superpowers and being used as glorified henchwomen by unscrupulous people, with Zoda having been given size-changing powers by the ancient sorceress Circe while being used as her minion Giganta. At one point, a coworker of Chigusa's named Chihaya Bokuda framed her for embezzlement; both Kyoko and Douru came to her defense, but they, along with Asuka, found themselves chasing after Rampage as she pursued Chihaya for her betrayal. When they eventually caught up with her, they found that while Rampage was certainly frightening Chihaya into a corner, she had no intention of harming her, saying she was better than this; she then willingly returned to her normal form, while Supergirl got Chihaya to confess her actions to the authorities. Since then, like Douru as Giganta, Chigusa has occasionally helped the Justice League out as Rampage whenever they needed an extra hand; Chigusa also continues to thrive as an educator, being quite popular with the kids she teaches, but after reconsidering a certain part of her life, she lately began participating in amateur wrestling circuits on the side as Rampage, much to the delight of her family."
*Author's Note(s)*
We've got a new 'wave' of foes this round, centered around the theme of 'energy-powered victims of circumstance', and for the DC half, our focus is on the C-veering-on-B-list Superman opponent Rampage, one of the early new villain creations who debuted during the mid-1980s relaunch of the Man of Steel under the pen of John Byrne. I figured that a version of her would work well in an anime setting, especially the Superwomen of Eva narrative environment, and it wasn't long before I stumbled upon a good candidate for the role, one who is quite a deep cut.
Said character, in this case, is Chigusa Matsumoto, a supporting character from Norakuro-Kun, a 1987 anime sequel series whose roots go all the way back to the Norakuro manga created in 1931 by Suihō Tagawa (the pen name of Nakatarō Takamizawa). Her whole gimmick in the show, as user gwahar put it best, is that she's a teacher (chiefly, the home room teacher for one of the show's main characters) that goes into "wrestler mode" whenever she hears anything that reminds her of wrestling, generally a bell ringing. (There are clips on YouTube, and you can guess what they depict.) I thought that she and Kitty Faulkner definitely shared a few things in common enough that making her the SWOE version of Rampage would work out well, and she manages to follow a precedent I set with my version of Giganta at the same time. I adapted a number of notable incidents that befell Faulkner in her publishing history to Chigusa's bio, evidenced by the Japanese versions of certain people involved in those circumstances (Tomoyuki Moya=Thomas Moyers, Haruo Fukusawa=Herbert Forrest, Chihaya Bokuda=Christine Bruckner), and her being a former classmate of Hitomi/Starwoman is a nod to Faulkner's friendship/relationship with the Will Payton version of Starman.
For handling the visual end of things (as seen on my DeviantArt profile), I turned to the talents of MuscleGirlsArt, who fittingly enough recently featured Chigusa as a contestant in their latest 'competition' (the build she sports here as Rampage is actually the same she had in said competition). The end result you see here hit all the right notes of what I was envisioning, not the least of which was homaging John Byrne's artwork for Rampage's entry in issue 4 of Who's Who: Update '87. (Further props to MuscleGirlsArt for even using some of the same style of typography from that entry.) I had them keep Chigusa's hair a big, flowing mane instead of giving her the usual mohawk style of Rampage just to swerve around most expectations a little. Overall, MuscleGirlsArt is someone I would turn to again for a commission like this, especially for the more beefier denizens of either the DC or Marvel universes.