Murphy, Jennifer / Smasher
Personal Information
Name: Smasher
Real Name: Jennifer Murphy
Former Aliases: Jennifer Wilson
First Appearance: Savage Dragon: Sex and Violence # 1 (Of 2)
Death Issue:Savage Dragon #234
Cause of Death:Electrocuted by Rapture
Group Affiliations: The Special Operations Strikeforce,The Covenant of the Sword
Height: 5′ 9″
Weight: 145 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Date of Birth: December 9, 1972
Place of Birth: Racine, Wisconson
Base of Operations: Chicago, Illinois
Other Distinguishing Features: N/A
Marital Status: Widowed
Known Relatives: Angel Murphy (daughter), Kevin Murphy (husband, deceased), Mrs. Wilson (mother), Cyril Wilson (brother), Ferris Wilson (brother), Walter Wilson (uncle), Penelope Wilson (aunt), Jennifer Dragon (alternate reality version)
Powers: Smasher possesses vast superhuman strength. She is capable of lifting (pressing) approximately 90 tons. She is very nearly impervious to flame. She has seemingly impenetrable skin, inhuman stamina and endurance, and an accelerated healing ability.
History
After graduation, Jennifer Wilson married her high school sweetheart, Kevin Murphy. He seemed nice and she thought that was all that mattered. He was a football star, she was a cheerleader. It seemed perfect and it was for a while but then he started hitting Jennifer.
Kevin worked for his dad as an electrician and absolutely hated it. The only release he could find was by beating his wife, taking out all of his frustration out on her. Jennifer thought that the arrival of their first child, Angelica, might help relieve the strain but it only got worse. The beatings continued until one day they just stopped hurting Jennifer.
The reason behind this strange phenomenon was unknown to her, but Jennifer didn’t complain. She thought she was just blocking out the pain, that she was numb to it. It wasn’t until later that she realized that these were the first signs of dormant mutant powers being triggered. It frustrated Kevin that she wasn’t reacting the way she used to. It wasn’t as satisfying as it had been. One day, in frustration, he tried to take it out on Angel. When Jennifer tried to protect her child, she hit him. His exploded. The rest of Jennifer’s superpowers had kicked in.
There was a trial. A man known only as “Grundy” tried to pin a string of murders on Jennifer which were actually committed by a serial killer. Officer Dragon of the Chicago Police stood by her through the ordeal. He found the real murderer and arrested her. The charges were dropped against Jennifer and she was reunited with her daughter.
A few months afterwards, following the failed Martian invasion of Earth, Dragon was recruited by the United States government to head up a superhuman strike force to prevent other major catastrophes. Jennifer, code named “Smasher,” accepted his offer to join the team, feeling she owed him a huge debt. So adept at using her vast strength in physical combat, she quickly sped her way through recruit training to become a core member of the team.
On the team’s first major mission, Smasher and Dragon were marooned on and later escaped the doomed planet Darkworld, and on a several-month long odyssey found their way to a bizarre planet where they did battle with mythological Gods. Eventually, Smasher and her travelling companion were returned to Earth and she was reunited with her daughter.
When Dragon was feared dead at the hands of Abner Cadaver, Smasher opted to retire from her superhero career as her primary motivation for becoming a hero had gone. Several of her teammates had also been killed in action and Smasher feared her daughter would have to grow up an orphan should she share a similar fate.
Dragon was restored to life by the ancient sorcerer Fon~Ti and he was informed by Smasher that she had grown incredibly attracted to him. After several months of dating, the couple became engaged. On the day of the wedding, the shape-shifting Imposter abducted the heroine for the Covenant of the Sword and took her place. The second OverLord went on to murder the person he thought was Dragon’s wife-to-be, leaving Dragon to believe his love was deceased.
Smasher underwent brain-washing to become a powerful member of the Covenant and was vital to the capture and reprogramming of the veteran hero SuperPatriot. DarkLord and the Covenant’s plans were eventually foiled. Amidst the battle, Smasher was blasted by Damien Darklord’s eye blasts and vanished, to all observers, obliterated.
It was later revealed that she was in fact not killed and that Darklord teleported her away. She is later captured by Glum who saved her for a rainy day to help Angel Dragon deal with the loss of her mother. Jennifer is able to escape captivity when the tube she is in is destroyed during an alien attack on Glum’s planet. She later finds Angel on the planet and the duo escape from Glum. She later meets up with Dragon, who despite telling her that he’s a different man, Jennifer still wants to marry him. Dragon doesn’t give her an answer right away and she later gets her old costume back from Angel. Angel also informs her that she is now a grandmother and they go and visit the kids.
Aliens soon attack Earth which she helps defeat. All the realties are soon merged by Glum and she remembers being shot to death by her daughter and decides that it’s best that her and Dragon don’t get together. She is also present when Dragon dies when he explodes from injecting Malcolm’s blood. She is later trapped in Dimension-X by the US Government. She later runs into an alternate universe Rapture who kills Smasher by electrocuting her to the point where her face is a skeleton. After she is buried an arms comes out of her grave, implying that she might still be alive.
Appearances
SAVAGE DRAGON
40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 (F/B), 64 (Image), 65 (F/B), 67, 73, 74, 75, 78 (Dream) 207, 208, 219, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 251(Picture), 255 (corpse),264 (AU F/B)