Gemma Shin (Earth-616)

Agony
Name	Gemma Shin
Current Alias	Agony
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Orchis, Fact Channel News, Carnage's Hive, Friends of Humanity; formerly Fist, Thunderbolts
Host of	Agony (formerly)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black
Unusual Features	Claws and fangs as Agony
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	American
Occupation	PMC, Communications Director, Terrorist, Criminal
Base of Operations	Washington, D.C.
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Alyssa Wong, Fran Galán, David Nakayama
First	Extreme Carnage Alpha #1 (July, 2021)
First	Extreme Carnage Alpha #1 (July, 2021)

 Wouldn't want to ruin a cute face like that... yet. 

—Agony

History

Becoming Agony

Gemma Shin was the Deputy Communications Director of Senator Peter Krane, though much to her annoyance she was often treated more like an assistant. Barred from attending an important meeting, Gemma was sent to get some coffee by one of her sexist coworkers and witnessed Knull's Symbiote Invasion. In the aftermath she found herself bonded to the Agony symbiote, and began working with Peter Krane on his Friends of Humanity campaign, eventually being promoted to his chief Communications Director.

Extreme Carnage

At some point over the following weeks, Gemma and Agony willingly joined Carnage's Hive, making a deal with the psychotic killer in exchange for their help. Gemma went to spy on Hank, who was working undercover for Flash Thompson, but she and Agony decided against reporting him to Krane. At the suggestion of Senator Krane's son Arthur - the only one of her male colleagues to treat her with respect - Gemma went out for a run to relax and clear her thoughts, Gemma was accosted and threatened by a trio of muggers, but transformed into Agony and ate them. After returning to Senator Krane's office the next day, Gemma was openly mocked by her coworkers, but Arthur stood up for her and secretly informed her that he was planning to run in opposition to his father, Gemma agreeing to support him if he did so.

In human form

While using some of the would-be muggers' body parts to decorate her house, Gemma was contacted by Carnage and affirmed her and Agony's loyalty to his cause. During the President's memorial for the people killed in the symbiote invasion, Gemma, Agony, and the other symbiotes got ready to assassinate Senator Krane during his speech, watching as Arthur transformed into Carnage and mortally-wounded Hank.

During Peter Krane's anti-aliens speech, Gemma and Lasher's host locked the gates to the arena and prepared to transform. After Arthur killed his father on stage, Agony and the other symbiotes transformed and started to attack the crowd. When the symbiote heroes arrive to help, Lasher expressed concern that they might lose but Agony said that they've already done what they came to do, which was scare the crowd in front of the cameras. Agony then fought Silence, with Gemma's symbiote being enraged when it sensed that Silence's symbiote was made from Scream's remains. When Iron Man attempted to assist the heroes with his Extrembiote armor - a symbiote-dragon mutated by Extremis - Carnage was separated from Arthur but then assimilated the Extrembiote and escaped with Agony while the other symbiotes were captured.

After Arthur Krane took the position of his father as Senator, Gemma and Agony were sent by Carnage to keep an eye on him and ensure he remained loyal to Carnage's cause. Having grown addicted to the power the Carnage symbiote had granted him, Arthur lamented to Gemma that he missed the Carnage symbiote, begging to know if it was going to return to him. Gemma admitted that she doesn't know what Carnage had planned, but asked Arthur if he was willing to prove himself by swearing fealty to Carnage's hive, Arthur kneeling before her and saying he'd do anything Carnage wanted.

Thunderbolts

Despite the Friends of Humanity's outwardly anti-symbiote policies, as part of Senator Krane's partnership with Mayor Wilson Fisk, Gemma and the Agony symbiote were dispatched to join Fisk's Thunderbolts and take part in his campaign to eliminate all superheroes. Gemma and Agony helped a unit thwart an attack by the Humanity Liberation Movement terrorist organization on the Met Gala, Gemma and Agony later squabbled with their teammates out of boredom and decided to eat Whiplash when a brawl broke out - only relenting when Fisk threatened to kill them all.

Agony with the Thunderbolts

After the Thunderbolts gained a new leader in John Walker, the U.S.Agent, Gemma and Agony tried to follow him, claiming that he was hiding something. During one of Fisk's big campaign events, a mysterious villain named Conviction possessed the crowd of civilians, forcing them to attack the mayor. Gemma and Agony protected the mayor and later helped cleanse Walker when he was infected by the villain. Agony and the rest of the team were later ordered to go after the Purple Man's children and kidnap them; during this mission they confronted the Champions. When Fisk sent a supercharged Purple Man into New York, Gemma and Agony fought with the rest of the Thunderbolts against the opposing small army of super heroes, though they were defeated after the heroes managed to stop the Purple Man and Fisk escaped.

Gemma and Agony were subsequently arrested alongside their teammates, with their attempted jailbreak being thwarted by a new Thunderbolts team that was assembled by Mayor Luke Cage.

The Fist

Gemma and Agony were placed in the Myrmidon, and kept in-check with an Inhibitor Collar. They were broken out by Daredevil, who convinced Gemma and Agony to join the Fist. During a therapy session with Doc Sasquatch, Agony said that she wanted silence, prompting Leonard to offer to dose Gemma with Symbiote Inhibitor. Agony attacked him, but was stopped by Daredevil, who told her that the Fist would help her overcome her rage and trauma.

Gemma helped rescue Bullet and his son, Lance, when they were kidnapped by the Hand. When the Hand's allies, Quinn and Una Stromwyn, retaliated by airdropping Re-Cid on the Fist's compound, Gemma was among those affected by the drug, which drove nearly everyone who was exposed to it into a violent frenzy until they were subdued by the Avengers. Gemma and the other arrested members of the Fist were then shipped to and imprisoned in America, but they were freed by the Stromwyns after they were threatened by Daredevil.

Gemma got a job at Fact Channel News and began secretly collaborating with Judas Traveller, helping him ferment anti-Mutant sentiment on behalf of Orchis. She apparently later lost her symbiote to Alchemax.

Attributes

Powers

Agony Symbiote: The Agony symbiote gives to its host the following powers:

• Superhuman Strength
• Superhuman Durability
• Superhuman Stamina
• Superhuman Speed, Agility, and Reflexes
• Accelerated Healing Factor
• Wall-Crawling
• Immunity to Spider-Man's Spider Sense
• Webbing Generation
• Camouflage Capabilities
• Constituent-Matter Generation
• Metabolic Acid Generation
  • Metabolic Chemical Absorption

Weaknesses

Sonic and Heat

Notes

• Gemma Shin was created by Alyssa Wong and Fran Galán for the Extreme Carnage event, while David Nakayama designed the Carnagized appearance of Agony.
• Gemma could be considered the first to use the alias Agony, as Leslie did not adopt it because the symbiote did not receive an official name until some time later in the main universe.

See Also

• 21 appearance(s) of Gemma Shin (Earth-616)
• 2 minor appearance(s) of Gemma Shin (Earth-616)
• 21 image(s) of Gemma Shin (Earth-616)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Gemma Shin (Earth-616)