Quasar

"Well, according to an eight billion year old being, I'm protector of the universe. I'm also a reserve Avenger and an all-around nice guy."

- Quasar.

Quasar (Wendell Elvis Vaughn) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is one of Marvel's cosmic heroes, a character whose adventures frequently take him into outer space or other dimensions. However, Quasar deviates from the archetype of the noble, dauntless alien set by such Silver Age cosmic heroes as the Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock and Captain Mar-Vell in that he is an everyman. He starred in an eponymous monthly ongoing series written by Mark Gruenwald that ran for sixty issues beginning in 1989 and has served as a member of The Avengers.

Story
Wendell Vaughn was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He graduated from S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. Although considered highly capable by his superiors, they nonetheless deem him unfit for field work, sensing that Vaughn lacked the necessary "killer instinct"—the will to win at all costs.

His first assignment is security detail for a research facility where a team of scientists were performing experiments on the Quantum Bands taken from the deceased Crusader. A test pilot selected to wear the bands proves spectacularly successful at wielding them, but he perishes when the energy output reaches a critical mass beyond his control. Vaughn dons the bands when the criminal scientists AIM launch a full-scale assault on the facility. Using the bands' power to generate solid energy constructs, he repulses the attack. When the energy buildup begins to overwhelm him, he decides to simply relax and "go with the flow". To his surprise, the buildup abruptly dissipates. Vaughn realizes the key to wielding the bands is a flexible will, rather than an indomitable, uncompromising one. Ultimately, his lack of a killer instinct makes all the difference.

Wendell Vaughn becomes a superhero, using the codename Marvel Boy in his first appearance alongside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s superhuman Super-Agents. He later becomes Marvel Man, and finally settles on Quasar.

Alongside Captain America, the Falcon, and the Hulk, he battles Moonstone and the Corporation.[7] Later, as security chief of Project: Pegasus, he battles the original Deathlok, Nuklo, the Grapplers, and the Nth Man when they attack the facility.[8] Quasar later journeys with the Thing into an alternate reality. His mind is temporarily taken over by the Serpent Crown.

Quasar journeys to Uranus, where the original Marvel Boy had received the bands. The bands' true nature and origins are revealed to him by the cosmic entity called Eon. Eon explains the bands were intended to be worn by his agent, the Protector of the Universe (previously the late Captain Mar-Vell). Quasar is offered the role and accepts. As a result, his mind is opened to the true extent of the bands' power, including how to use the bands to teleport via a dimension called the Quantum Zone. He also battles Deathurge. After returning to Earth, he resumes his role as a superhero and assists the Avengers in battle against Super-Nova. He is inducted into the Avengers shortly after.

Quasar meets Uatu the Watcher. He encounters the Stranger, and solves the Watcher's "Oblivion Plague."[

After a falling-out with both his estranged father and Eon, he quits his role as Protector of the Universe. During this time Maelstrom, the "Cosmic Assassin," kills both Quasar and Eon. However, Quasar is recreated in an energy form by the cosmic being Infinity and battles Maelstrom and Oblivion. Quasar saves the universe from collapse. Maelstrom is destroyed by the Quantum-bands and Quasar resurrects himself. Quasar fights Thanos at Eon's funeral. Eon is reincarnated in the form of its newborn offspring, Epoch.

When a stargate being used by the Shi'ar during the Kree-Shi'ar War threatens to destroy Earth's sun, Quasar is able to undo the damage with the help of Binary.

During the Infinity War, Quasar travels to the Dimension of Manifestations to gather intelligence. With the aid of the Contemplator, he discovers the cosmic being Eternity in a catatonic state. He leaves the dimension to join with his fellow superheroes. Quasar attempts to use the near-omnipotent Ultimate Nullifier against the godlike villain Magus, but Magus uses theInfinity Gauntlet to turn the weapon against Quasar, wiping him from existence. Quasar is able to resurrect himself through means of the Star Brand, which he had acquired during a trip to the New Universe prior to the Infinity War. When the Presence threatens to kill his loved ones, Quasar fakes his death and leaves Earth.

Quasar helps defend the universe from aliens called Infinities. When Earth is threatened by Ego the Living Planet, Quasar absorbs Ego's essence and exiles himself into space, for fear of Ego expanding to planet-size.

Quasar helps to operate an Avengers deep-space sensing station with the support of Living Lightning and Monica Rambeau,  and then becomes involved in Kang's War. He later assists the Fantastic Four in a battle with Galactus. When the Annihilation Wave strikes, Quasar and Nova try to stop it. Quasar is killed by Annihilus.

Wendell is restored to life in a Quantum Energy form thanks to the scientists of Project Pegasus.

Wendell volunteers to scout the rip in spacetime caused by the War of Kings. During the trip, he regains physical form and discovers an alternate universe planning to invade his universe. Trying to return to his reality, Quasar encounters an Imperial Guard exploration ship. Quasar joins Nova's team to resist the invasion.

In an effort to prevent further galactic catastrophes, Quasar joins the Annihilators. The team protects Galador from an invasion of the Dire Wraiths and brings an end to the generations long war between the two worlds. The Annihilators learn of an attempt to revive the Magus by the Universal Church of Truth, and they prevent his resurrection with the aid of the Avengers.

Powers and Abilities
Quasar's powers are derived from the pair of Quantum Bands fused to his wrists (or more specifically, from the seven gems on each of the bands). Quasar's quantum-bands are permanently affixed to his wrists. He can make light bend around them so they appear to be invisible, though they are still tangible. They are linked to their wearer's nervous system and grant tremendous powers of energy manipulation. The Quantum Bands are composed of unknown materials and were originally created by Eon to be worn by his designated Protector of the Universe. They were discovered by the Uranian Eternals in a weapons depot left by the alien Kree and brought to Earth by the deluded Crusader that believed himself to be the 1950s Marvel Boy.

Foremost amongst these powers is the ability to tap into a limitless source of potential energy called the Quantum Zone. Quasar can project quantum energy in the form of devastating beams of force or heat, but more commonly employs them to fashion incredibly durable constructs of solid energy in any shape he can visualize, such as containment spheres, pincers or most commonly as a personal force field. Once they are formed he no longer has to concentrate on them to keep them intact.

The Quantum Bands can also exert control over many other types of energy that are part of the electromagnetic spectrum. He can siphon energy from virtually any power source. For example, Quasar once tapped into a sun and caused it to emit an enormous solar flare. He can also absorb and redirect the cosmic energy wielded by other powerful beings, siphoning their power and using it to augment his quantum energy. Forms of energy the Quantum Bands cannot control include magic and the Darkforce.

Although he cannot overtly affect psionic energy, Quasar has programmed his bands to render him impervious to protect his mind from psionic attack or takeover. Even Moondragon and the Overmind proved unable to overcome this defense. However, this does not protect him from magical forms of compulsion.

Quasar can create apertures into and out of the Quantum Zone, thus allowing passage through its infinite, featureless expanse. He mainly uses this ability to traverse interstellar distances in a manner similar to hyperspace travel. The effect is essentially a form of teleportation, which Quasar refers to as a Quantum Jump. A Quantum Jump has a destructive side effect on the local environment, violently upheaving gravity and tearing holes in the atmosphere (on Earth, it would damage the ozone layer), so Quasar initially refrained from using it except when in space or in dire circumstances. However, he eventually discovered that he could prevent this effect by surrounding himself with a barrier of solid energy before jumping. Quasar can also shunt other matter into the Quantum Zone provided that he's in physical contact with it.

The Quantum Bands enable their wearer to fly by manipulating gravitons. The maximum flight speed he can attain is unknown, but he made a trip from Earth to Uranus in approximately four years flying non-stop (this was before he learned how to quantum jump). That would require a constant speed of roughly 50,000 miles per hour (80,000 km/h). This doesn't take into account the velocity he can achieve in a short burst of acceleration.

The quantum band gems possess some capability for analyzing and processing information as if they were extremely advanced computers. This allows Quasar to navigate the Quantum Zone and the depths of space. The gems are able to detect, analyze, and track energy emissions across vast distances. They can also "program" his Quantum energy to register and react to certain preset conditions. For instance, at one time Quasar had the Earth surrounded with an invisible lattice-work of energy that was designed to act as a global alert system against potential extraterrestrial threats. The energy field could detect any surges of exotic energy emanating from the planet's surface as well as if any object larger than a micrometeorite passed through it; in either case, the field would react by transmitting an alert signal to the Quantum Bands.

Quasar has a direct link to Epoch through his bands, which gives him ready access to her nascent omniscience.

The bands contain a finite amount of energy which will drain away if they are isolated from their power source (as yet unexplained) and that they also remain linked in some way to their former users. Wendell later returned as a being of pure quantum energy, apparently due to his link to the bands despite his physical death.