I'm glad everyone likes SCEPTRE. He's one of my favorite characters. There was some influence from Constrictor, I always liked his costume (and his powers, for that matter). SCEPTRE's staff came from Cardiac, a Spidey villian who shot energy blasts, could do a TK/tractor beam, and could even levitate up or down by shooting the beam straight down at the ground.
'Cat: I'm honored that you want to use him. Do you want his writeup, or are you designing someone to fit the pic?
And thanks, everyone for the assist on the image insert. As you can see above, I figured it out. Finally.