Gunner Brake was a bright, if not brilliant scientist stuck in the body of a professional wrestler. His true talents lie in using other's work better. He is skilled in many sciences but he can take established theories and turn them into brilliant abstractions that barely resemble their original form. In fact, he always noted his sources. This enabled him to get through college without seeming a thief. After college he accepted a post within UNTIL's research department. This was where he began to see where his future lie. He studied the devices and discoveries of dozens of "mad scientists" and the high tech wonders captured from VIPER, ARGENT, PSI, and the Warlord. He began to keep private notes on "interesting" applications or offshoots of said technologies. He also began to seek out criminal contacts. It was through these that he managed to gather a few agent level thugs and persuade them that he could give them superpowers. When he was sure of his prospects, he blew up his research lab and faked his own death. Free from his emplyoment with UNTIL, he began using his notes to create supervillains. The results were the Iron Grip, a team of metahuman thieves and enforcers that gather wealth and power for their fearless leader. Despot is not really interested in ruling the world. He is quite content to become fabulously wealthy, buy an island and live out juvenile power fantasies on a small scale. He enjoys a good scrape, thrills at finding a new piece of technology to "aquire" and having a team of supervillains at his beck and call. Interesting, these gravity bolos could probably be augmented to crush the objects in their grasp. I wonder why Defender never thought of that? Aside from his martial arts skills and legendary physical prowess, Despot has a large gadget pool to back up his team and keep himself safe and sound. He enjoys battle and in many ways acts like a brick rather than a martial artist. He considers himself a frontline kind of fighter and equips himself so he can be a damage soaker. Although they can work almost anywhere as a "bank robbing" team; the Iron Grip, at the behest of their leader, often target hi-technology for thier thefts. Despot enjoys the prospect of dabbling with someone elses life's work. Tall, tanned and blonde, Gunnar Brake looks alot like a professional wrestler. He has bulging muscles and wears his hair close cropped with a neatly trimmed beard (no sideburns though). He wears a black stasis cloth "Tee shirt" with gray pants, black boots, and a kahaki colored combat vest with lots of pockets. In many ways he could be seen as an evil version of Doc Savage.