Wheeling Jesuit University/People/Don Immortal
| Don Immortal | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Don Immortal was the 13th Jesuit president of Wheeling Jesuit University and the head of the Manhattan Templar, a New York City-based mafia organisation working for the Roman Catholic Church. Reigning from August 2007 to August 2009, his rule ranks as among the shortest in the university's history, with only Lundius Superbus' ill-fated regime being shorter-lived.
Early beginnings[edit | edit source]
Julio Vito Giovanni's earliest appearances are among the most recent of all Immortals. Choosing to remain as sentient space until 1901, Giovanni willed himself into existence as a human in the small Sicilian town of Zuppa di Mare. When a gang of thugs defaced a local Catholic Church and a statue to the Virgin Mary, Giovanni decided that it was his mission to "empower the people" to defend themselves against such attacks on Catholicism. Giovanni created a loosely-organised coalition known as "Vito's Boys", and together they uncovered the gang and brutally executed the thugs responsible for the crime.
Society of Jesus[edit | edit source]
Lundius Superbus was impressed by Rev. Giovanni's leadership and organisational skills, and recommended that he join the Society of Jesus at once. In 1912, Giovanni travelled to New York City, where he met with several Jesuits, including Superbus himself as well as Deathbringer and Father Haig, the then-president of Wheeling College. Rev. Giovanni joined the order and was allowed to control New York City, where he immediately set about creating a new mafia for the purposes of "maintaining the peace" and "instilling Jesuit ideals" in the Italian-American immigrant community. In 1919, he founded the Manhattan Templar, a group of zealous Italian Catholics dedicated to his cause. He selected Pablo Ciccio as his second-in-command for his ruthlessness, and they struck fear into the hearts of competing mafiosos in the city. It was at this time that he took the name Don Immortal.
Giovanni was highly willing to use coercion and murder to achieve his means. In 1930, Bishop Fulton Sheen demanded that the Manhattan Templar be disbanded, or he would report their activities to the Vatican City. Unwilling to compromise but likewise unwilling to do battle with the powerful Doctor of the Church, Don Immortal instead sent a severed horse's head to Dr. Strange's penthouse mansion - a severed horse's head that was filled with pong bombs. Although Fulton Sheen escaped unhurt, fifteen members of his staff were killed in the explosion. Don Immortal warned Sheen that more would be on the way should he decide to "run back to the papacy". Sheen, unwilling to sacrifice innocent people in the line of fire, relented to Giovanni's threats, and never sought papal action against Don Immortal.
By the 1940s, Don Immortal's Manhattan Templar had become a highly-profitable venture, overseeing gambling, bootlegging, and smuggling operations in and out of New York City. Although several members of the Jesuit resistance attempted to break up the Manhattan Templar several times (including Father Stark himself), Don Immortal's connections and the resolve of his foot soldiers proved to be too much every single time (The Jesuit Wars, #55). Additionally, the Manhattan Templar proved to be popular with the Society of Jesus, and many Jesuits under Fed Acker Huang showed their support for his organisation.
Wheeling Jesuit University[edit | edit source]
Don Immortal, however, soon became tired of being the King of New York City, and longed for rule on a more global level. Although Don Immortal submitted his name for the candidacy of the post of president of a Jesuit university numerous times, he was consistently rejected by the Immortal Jesuit Emperor or by one of his subordinates.
His opportunity finally came in 2006 when El Presidente of Wheeling Jesuit University was poisoned by mystery Kool-Aid (rumoured to have been planted by the Justice Association) and forced to abdicate the presidency. With Fed Acker Huang dead, many Jesuits were reluctant to fill the post of president due to WJU's well-known status as a safe haven for the Jesuit resistance. Don Immortal, however, boldly submitted his name to the Jesuit Council and to the WJU Board of Governors. To the latter, he used his mind-control abilities to "make them an offer they couldn't refuse", and to the former, he promised to "root out the Jesuit resistance once and for all". His application was approved by Lundius Superbus in early 2007, and his presidency will begin in August of the same year. There is an unsubstantiated rumor that the appointment was also done at the urging of one of the members of the Churchill Society. The supposed fascist leanings of this person are also unsubstantiated at this time.
Politics[edit | edit source]
Don Immortal's ruling style initially reflected those of interim president Burgeoning Buffoon's, who used his newfound authority to institute "administrative restructuring". Don Immortal has expressed strong desires to "elevate the status of Campus Insecurity", as well the administrative powers of Campus Insecurity's leader, "Sniper" Steve Habursky. He is also a close associate of Bizarro Hammond the Holy, and is likely to work closely with the Center for Evil Technology to further boost his abilities. His concern for a strong campus entity to help ensure the "safety and well-being of my operat...of the students is going to be the first priority of my regime. Err, presidency." To date, the US Senate Committee on Organized Crime has yet to comment on the recent appointment of Don Immortal.
Further proposed improvements to campus quality of life include planting an orange grove over the soccer field. "It reminds me of home," Don Immortal is quoted as saying. A recent agreement to allow soccer and lacrosse players use of the county prison field to better facilitate practice and game attendance is also credited with assisting in this move.
Decline and defeat[edit | edit source]
On 6 August, 2009, Don Immortal was defeated by a coalition of superheroes after he attempted to destroy Papal Moonbase Zeta through misappropriated NASA funds. Working together with RICK-9000, the artificial intelligence governing the Center for Evil Technology building, Don Immortal succeeded in hacking into NASA accounts and funnel money towards his Santino "Sonny" galactic missile system, which was developed in secret for the purposes of attacking the Catholic facility on one of Neptune's outer moons. The Santino missile had been developed to 90% completion when the operation was discovered by Padre Maximus, one of the Pope's space defenders.
An ultimatum was issued by the Chair of St. Peter on 1 August, 2009, demanding that Don Immortal cease construction of the missile. Undeterred, Don Immortal ordered a hit on prominent Vatican scholar, Cardinal Gilberto Agustoni, as a means of distracting the papacy. Recognising Don Immortal's unwillingness to cooperate with papal diplomacy, Padre Maximus led an assault on WJU, where the Don was defeated after a ten-hour battle. Don Immortal was sealed away in a section of Little Italy that was ripped out of this dimension by the sorceress Magnifica.
Until further notice, Don Immortal's close adviser and capo regime, J. D. McRackateer, will assume control of WJU for the "interim" montage of violent death scenes and mob war.
Powers[edit | edit source]
Don Immortal possesses superhuman strength and a powerful form of mind-control. Don Immortal is also a criminal and organisational mastermind, who specialises in the forming of cell groups that are equipped to maintain his rule and order.
External Link[edit | edit source]
- Don Immortal named as new president of WJU - the article erroneously reports that he is the 8th president of the university, among other things.
- Don Immortal defeated - the "sanitised" version for public consumption.
|- style="text-align: center;"
| width="30%" |Preceded by:
El Presidente
| width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |President of WJU
2007 - 2009
| width="30%" |Succeeded by:
J. D. McRackateer