ETERNITY MAN
Real Name: Jason Beere
Identity/Class: Human technology user
Occupation: Industrialist
Group Membership: Owner of Beere Technologies
Affiliations: Tony Stark (business competitor)
Enemies: Avengers (Black Panther/T'Challa, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Iron Man/Tony Stark)
Known Relatives: Samantha (wife, separated), Matthew, Lewis (sons), Katherine (daughter)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Currently unknown;
formerly Stark International Long Island plant;
formerly Avengers Mansion;
place of birth Wilmington, Delaware
Appearances: Avengers I#169 (March, 1978)
Powers/Abilities: None. Beere was either a talented inventor, or employed some. He briefly wore a suit of armor, which granted him superhuman strength (@ Class 10), could increase its surface temperature to several hundred degrees in seconds, fire miniature concussion missiles (nearly able to crack Iron Man's armor), fire energy blasts, and resist various forms of attack.
Beere is currently in a state of near suspended animation. His heart is attached to a neutron bomb which was reportedly powerful enough to destroy the entire planet. The bomb is set to detonate when his heart stops, and his heart is kept beating by a chest plate from an old suit of Iron Man armor.
History:
(Avengers I#169 (fb) - BTS) - Jason Beere was a wealthy industrialist, worth over 200 million dollars, and one of Tony Stark's major competitors. He was diagnosed with a terminal disease and given six months to live. Frustrated that his vast wealth would be unable to save his life, he decided that if he should die, the world must die with him.
He used a portion of his wealth to implant a powerful neutron bomb within his chest. He also had a suit of armor built for himself, and then had three what-appeared-to-be bombs placed in three locations around the world: in Peru, among a bird-worshipping tribe; in the Arctic Circle, within the cave of an immense polar bear; and in Moscow, within a museum. Beere forewarned the Russians and the bird-worshipping tribe that American heroes would be coming to steal the bombs, and convinced them to make every effort to stop them.
(Avengers I#169) - Beere (wearing his armor) then broke through a wall at Avengers Mansion and ambushed the Avengers there: the Black Panther, Captain America, and Iron Man. He attacked them savagely, attempting to force them to kill him, but Iron Man succeeded in subduing and unmasking him. Beere threatened them--that the world would die when he did--and warned them of four bombs around the world. Iron Man flew Beere to his Stark International facility, where he used his original chest plate to stabilize Beere's failing heart.
The Avengers went after the three bombs in Peru, the Arctic Circle, and Moscow, and succeeded in retrieving them. However, upon examining the "bombs," Iron Man determined that there were no explosives within them. The Avengers linked the three devices together, and they played out Beere's last message, revealing the bomb within his chest, set to detonate when his heart stopped. Iron Man then placed Beere within a cryogenic chamber at Avengers Mansion, where his heart would be slowed, but would never stop due to the chest plate. The Avengers noted the irony that Beere feared to die young, but now might live forever: an Eternity Man.
(Iron Man I#114 - BTS) - Wonder Man noted that Jason Beere was still on ice at Avengers Mansion.
(Iron Man I#115 (fb) - BTS) - Beere was moved to Stark International.
(Iron Man I#115) - Iron Man took Unicorn in suspended animation to Stark Interntional to the cryogenic chamber where Jason Beere was already housed. Iron Man noticed Beere and noted that the cryogenics would keep Beere alive for all of eternity.
Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman, Sal Buscema, Dave Hunt.
I realize a story is just a story, and suspension of disbelief is necessary, but it's hard for me to believe that the heroes in this story would allow Beere to stay in stasis forever, waiting for some simple malfunction to cause the chest plate to cease and the bomb to destroy all life on Earth. Certainly a combination of Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Don Blake/Thor, Dr.Strange, etc. could have found someway to end this threat permanently. He could have been teleported to an uninhabited pocket dimension, where the bomb could have been removed and deactivated under more controlled conditions. Or any number of other solutions could have been found. Also, no pacemaking device can keep a heart beating when the rest of the body has died. The cells won't respond to the electrical stimulation if they're dead. It's just too goofy of a premise for me. Sorry. It was a fill-in story which was needed when a deadline was missed in the classic Korvac saga.
So what happened to Beere after Stane took over Stark's facility?
Stane probably realized most everything you pointed out, and either launched Beere's body (cryo-trube and all) into space, in a missile programmed for a non-stop flight to the Sun. Or, he used a Pym-particle beam to shrink the body into a "sub-atomic universe" (=parallel-universe reachable only through penetration of the so-called "Planck Barrier").
--Carycomic
The bird worshipping tribe would appear to be of Mayan descent, but I'm not certain.
Thanks to Norvo, Loki and Markus Raymond for updating this profile.
Profile by Snood, reformatted by Luis Dantas
Clarifications: The Eternity
Man should not be confused with:
--Avengers I#169
images: (without ads)
Avengers I#169, p18, pan4 (main)
Avengers I#169, p5, pan1 (head shot)
Avengers: Roll Call, Jason Beere profile (in armor)
Iron Man I#115, p5, pan1 (on ice at Avengers Mansion)
Avengers I#169, Cover (bomb)
Appearances:
Avengers I#169 (March, 1978) - Marv Wolfman (writer/editor), Sal Buscema (pencils), Dave Hunt (inks)
Iron Man I#114 (September, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Keith Giffen (pencils), Bruce D. (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Iron Man I#115 (October, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
First Posted: 12/22/2001
Last updated: 07/01/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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