Rus Livingston

Rus has the build of a middle-aged man topped with short brown hair. When the Sequids seize him, the change shows plainly in his eyes, which turn black around pale white irises.

The little seen of Rus outside possession suggests a committed, hardworking astronaut and a loyal member of his crew. Under Sequid control he loses all agency, reduced to a mouthpiece for their cruel, domineering will. Freedom brings no relief at first; having stayed aware throughout the ordeal, he emerges hollowed out and starved of sleep, and he carries a lasting grudge against the Martians who let him take the fall by replacing him.

Rus flew with three fellow astronauts on humanity's mission to Mars, only for the crew to be seized on arrival and hauled before the Martian Emperor, who ordered them executed out of fear the Sequids would exploit them. Invincible sprang the team, but a Martian shapeshifter had already slipped into Rus's place, leaving the real man to be claimed by the Sequids, who unified through him and launched their conquest of Mars.

Now their host, Rus led the parasites in overrunning the Martians and then commandeered a ship bound for Earth, opening fire on the Guardians' shuttle when it crossed their path. In the fight that followed, Robot's sonic and EMP attacks, backed by Atom Eve's shields, finally let Invincible and the Immortal shock the Sequids out of him. Black Samson carried the freed Rus home, where he began piecing his life back together in the apartment Shapesmith had wrecked. The rot and spoiled food made him sick, and as he retched he caught movement in the sink; a single surviving Sequid lunged and merged with him again, and before long the re-possessed Rus was breeding a fresh Sequid horde in a city's sewers.