Hard Winter is a team led by Permafrost, they are men and women (and other species) whose powers and/or themes revolve around cold powers.  Their primary motivations had always been monetary gain, traveling across the United States and Canada via railways (employing refrigerated cars for the more vulnerable members).  They are one of the most enduring, most persistent super villain teams in existence.

(Click on images to enlarge.)    

Permafrost: Veronica Lee had been a self-absorbed Sorority brat who had everything given to her.  Her parents had paid for her college education but all she was using it for was to land her a doctor or lawyer as a husband.  She was attracted to weird Goth types, however, and she began dating this LARP freak named Lars.  Lars got her to go back to his place, where he knocked her out and planned to use her in this ceremony to summon a Norse ice giant.  Lars drove a knife into Veronica’s heart (which was quite a feat because she didn’t have much of one to begin with) and the ceremony worked.  But the ice giant took one look at Vernoica’s cooling corpse and it fell in love.  It slew Lars and mystically enchanted Veronica, saving her so-called life.  That day Permafrost was born! 

Permafrost is able to generate extreme cold that provides her with a very tough armored sheath.  She is able to project razor-sharp icicles, encase people in ice, and can make metal extremely brittle.  Permafrost can also create a coating of ice over surfaces up to a hundred yard radius.  This coating makes footing very difficult, only people wearing ice skates or spikes or have some manner of maintaining their balance on the precarious surface can fight effectively on it.  Permafrost is vulnerable to heat/laser attacks. 

Cold, ruthless, and calculating sum up Permafrost nicely.  She does everything for personal gain, although she seems to show a considerable degree of loyalty to her team.
Glacier: Glacier was a Norse ice giant who had been barred from the Earthly plane by Wotan’s magics.  The ice giants hate warm climes and have fought epic battles against the gods for sovereignty over the Earth (and you thought the Ice Age was a natural phenomena!). 

A novice mage named Lars who thought he could summon an ice giant and get it to do his bidding.  He used Veronica Lee as a blood sacrifice, the idea being the destruction of a warm heart would be a fitting sacrifice.  Unfortunately for Lars Veronica Lee did not have a very warm heart to begin with.  The ice giant slew Lars and made Lee his frozen bride.  Unfortunately for the ice giant Veronica was not some medieval wench content to honor and obey; in a matter of hours it was her calling the shots and the ice giant was under her control!  She called him Glacier and that spelled the beginning of Hard Winter! 

Glacier speaks in a modern dialect.  This is due to the fact that Glacier is not speaking English per se, but is magically translating so it sounded as if he is speaking modern 21st century English. 

Glacier is extremely strong and resilient to damage.  His favorite tactic is to throw cars at opponents.  His only weakness stems from his inability to withstand warm temperatures for any length of time.  This also makes him vulnerable to heat/laser attacks. 

Glacier is a dark, brooding being whose only enjoyment stems from his ability to do as much property damage as possible.
The fourth man to wear adopt the Snowblind Monnicker (Snowblind II lasted a month.  No one really knows what happened to Snowblind III), Christian Gable is a highly talented electrical and mechanical engineer that fell into overwhelming student debt that was not helped by his gambling habit.  He sought to get out from under his bills by freelancing for criminals, constructing specialized gear for heists.  He was found out, though, and sent to prison where he met Miles Forresoe.  The two were cell mates and when Christian was given an early parole he acquired Miles' Snowblind gear from a storage locker and told to take up the mantle with his cell mate's blessing.  Or that is what he claimed.  Since Miles died in prison during a riot he was not available to verify this.

Christian employs elements of both Snowblind mk I and Black Ice's gear, they allow him to produce holograms that can make him invisible as well as create realistic illusions.  He also uses a powerful lazer that can cut through most metals or blind opponents.  His suit is heavily armored and insulated and his helmet affords him an effective sensor suite.

The Snow Queen: Not much is known about the latest member of Hard Winter.  Is she a mythical creature, and Elemental?  Is she human or something else?  All that is known is she is able to manipulate the weather, most notably the ability to create frigid tempuratures.  She is able to form snow storms, fog banks, cause baseball sized chunks of hail to fall from the sky.  Her major limitation is the warmer and/or drier the natural climate, the more difficult it is for her to alter it.  The Snow Queen possesses an unearthly beauty rivaled only by Permafrost herself.
Icebox: Russian industrialist Konstantin Aspodiv had gotten into the highly speculative Super Soldier market.  Some called him a Stalinist throwback, others claimed he was a fraud the way American industrialist Preston Tucker had been accused of.  Konstantin ignored his detractors and pressed on, gathering some of the finest Russian engineers to craft a suit of powered armor.  Amazingly, the suit worked, a rugged masterpiece.  Aspodive prepared to mass market the suit, when it was stolen and all the files and equipment destroyed in the fire, many of the engineers slain.  In the ensuing investigation there were allegations of offshore accounts, illicit dealings with the Russian mafia, all manner of accusations flying back and forth.  In the end Konstantin Aspodiv died in bed amidst bottles of cheap vodka and equally cheap prostitutes, his reputations a thing of the past.

And yet, months after his demise, a mercenary was selling his services to the highest bidder, a man calling himself Icebox, employing a suit of powered armor uniquely suited for extreme environments...
Zamboni: There are hard men.  Men who know war and hardship and thrive in such conditions.  And then there is Andrea Zamboni.  Born in Italy, Andrea left his native country to join the French Foreign Legion where he developed a reputation as a man not to be trifled with.  He left the Legion after serving his term and immediately hired himself out as muscle for whomever wanted a man with little conscience and a capacity for violence.  He rapidly developed a reputation as someone who was reliable, ruthless and loyal; once he took your coin, he was your man until you betrayed him.  He spent years working for one criminal or another in a variety of jobs, not thinking a great deal of the future.  Then one day he looked at himself in the mirror and saw the crows feet, the first gray hair.  He knew he was getting old, and one day he was going to be just a little too slow, and that would be it.  Thinking pragmatically, he decided to do something about it.

To this day no one is sure of the source of Zamboni's powers or the price he had to pay.  What is known is he is tougher, stronger and faster than a fifty five year old man has a right to be.

Black Ice: The Graves clan is an association of necromancers, masters of sorceries regarding the conquest of death.  The general public knows very little about them, but among the magical community this "family" is universally reviled for near-monstrous lack of morals or ethics.  Black Ice, as she has deigned to call herself, is a mistress of death and a sorceress of some small ability, able to manipulate some sort of "dark energy".  It is uncertain why she has allied herself with Hard Winter, only that among a group of hardened criminals her heart is the blackest.

The Snow Ballers are Hard Winter's hired muscle, they are mostly men and women with military experience and are all expert snow mobile drivers.  Their duties are to smooth the way for the less human members of Hard Winter, case joints, do leg work.  And then in combat they run interference with more mundane enemies (i.e. law enforcement).  Each member wears body armor, clothing to protect them from frigid cold, and employ conventional firearms.  Their boots have retractable spikes to allow them to operate on icy surfaces and their snow mobiles are state of the art.

The following are former members are:


Snowblind: Miles Forrestoe employed advanced holographic and stealth technology that made him a hard opponent to pin down on the battlefield, his weapon of choice was specially designed heavy caliber pistol constructed of various cold resistant polymers which could fire a different variety of bullets.  A former Green Beret, he was dishonorably discharged in '03 for dealing drugs.

Miles was arrested, tried and convicted in '09, he was later killed in prison during a riot, his assailant is still unknown at this time.
Flurry: Barbie Dallas had been Edmonton’s sweetheart, a contender for Olympic gold.  But when it was discovered she was a mutant she was disqualified because her abilities “might unfairly aid her performance”.  Embittered, she dropped out of the spotlight.  She took up kick boxing to relieve stress, but that only seemed to focus and intensify her anger.  It was at this point that she was approached by Permafrost to join her group.  Barbie immediately agreed. 

Flurry is able to create a field of swirling, snow-like particles that can blind a person (she is immune to her own effect).  She is only able to create this field around herself.  Flurry is also an excellent figure skater and is a good kick-boxer, her favorite tactic is to use her ice skates as weapons on blinded, disoriented opponents.  She liked to double-team with Frostbite when he was on the team.

Barbie used to be a bright, bubbling personality that had focused her life towards figure skating and Olympic fame.  When she was cruelly denied this she became bitter and vengeful.  She hides this behind a happy façade, but beneath is a time bomb ready to explode on someone.  Barbi had been arrested and did her time, upon her release from prison in '17 she published a book called Thin Ice, The Barbi Dallas Story.  Her victims successfully sued her for the profits from the book.  Barbi was living in obscurity in a trailer park near Edmonton, but her current whereabouts are now uknown.
Black Ice: Joshua “Josh” Trenton had been a technical expert at Door Co. who had gone by the earlier alias Black Laser.  He was captured by authorities early in his career while “field testing” some equipment for his  superior.  He was cut loose and was sent to prison.  He made a break and laid low, and while he did so he came to a conclusion; governments and companies will screw you.  He decided to go freelance and discovered through the grapevine that  a woman named Permafrost was creating a super villain group.  He approached her with his gear and told her his background (who would have thought four years playing college hockey would pay off?).  Permafrost took an instant liking to his professional attitude, his skills, and his willingness to be a team player.  She signed him up immediately. 

After a series of defeats at the hands of various super hero groups Josh decided to alter his equipment.  He created a suit of armor that afforded him greater protection as well as the ability to allow him to carry more effective firepower and changed his name to Black Ice.  He had been arrested, but made parole under classified circumstances.  His current wherabouts are unknown.

Black Ice had no powers.  He used powerful laser guns that could cut through almost any structure (or person) or blind a person for a short time.  He wore a suit of armor that afforded him considerable physical protection, both from attacks and from extreme environmental conditions.

It was known that Josh had a crush on Flurry.
Chill: Stanley Macke is a mutant who figured out early that he could use his power to make a quick buck.  As a solo thief he wasn’t bad, but when he almost got killed by The Revengers he figured that joining a team might be healthier.  He heard about Permafrost’s team and got her to let him join.

Chill is able to pass through any substance, and he is able to partially solidify his hand inside a person to give them a shock to their system.  He is also able to see through any solid object.  Chill may also have new powers to go along with his new look.

Chill is a back-stabber and a snake and is inherently untrustworthy.  He is current living out a half dozen life sentences at The Hole.

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