GAMESMAN

Real Name: Timothy Braverman

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Criminal mastermind

Group Membership: Leader of his own secret crime syndicate

Affiliations: Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)

Enemies: Gamesman, LAPD, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Captain Alexander Walsh

Known Relatives: Father, mother (names unrevealed), brother (name unrevealed, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Los Angeles, California

First Appearance: Spider-Woman I#23 (February, 1980)

Powers/Abilities: The Gamesman has no superhuman powers, but he does use conventional handguns. He does have access to a complicated network of spies and human moles in order to keep tabs on police activities.

History: (Spider-Woman I#24 (fb))- Tim Braverman was a once a native of Brooklyn, New York. His mother had a questionable occupation he was hesitant to describe and his father an unemployed drunk who drank away what little money his mother made. When his father wasn’t drunk, he would beat Tim to a bloody pulp with the long end of a belt. In order to procure milk to drink, Tim and his brother stole milk bottles from the nearby suburbs. In order to get food, they created a routine of bait and switch where his brother would pretend to steal something to distract the storeowners to give chase while Bart then stole all he could carry. Tim’s ego over his successful schemes got the worst of him when one day a drunken off-duty policeman during one of their thefts shot his brother dead. Holding his brother’s dead body, Tim vowed to never be poor again and devoted himself to fooling the police. He moved to the west coast working and studying to execute perfect crimes. Hiding behind a mask, his subordinates knew him as the Gamesman, the most ingenious criminal mastermind ever known.

(Spider-Woman I#25 (fb))- Through his criminal plans as the Gamesman, he amassed a fortune of ten million dollars that he converted into jewels and kept concealed in a safety deposit box at Los Angeles Bank And Trust.

(Spider-Woman I#23)- Posing as an investigative reporter, Tim Braverman started hanging out at the Los Angeles Police Department in order to keep tabs on police investigations and plans his crimes around them. His organization, however, ran aground when Spider-Woman interceded in a robbery he had planned. An informant he had planted in the police station passed a message on that she was at the police station as he sent several of his men to attack her. As Braverman, he then came to her rescue in order to earn her trust. He began romancing her and meeting her in secret spots as he kept tabs on her. When she mentioned that she knew the Gamesman was going after the Rajah Ruby at the Los Angeles Civic Auditorium, he tried to steer her away from it. When that didn’t work, he equipped his men to be ready for her and gave them stun guns to incapacitate her. When she arrived to stop them, they knocked her unconscious and tied her to a post as they tried to burn the building down around her. Realizing that he truly loved her, he raced back to save her after letting his men escape. He revealed his identity to her and her partner Scotty McDowell as the police arrived and took him into custody.

(Spiderwoman I#24)- While in prison, Braverman revealed his past to Spider-Woman as she visited him there. He then began imploring her to use whatever police connections she had to get him an early parole and she offered to do her best. Meanwhile, the Gamesman was succeeded at the head of his syndicate by a new Gamesman wanting access to all the money he had been hiding away before his arrest. They placed a hit on Spider-Woman that failed and then a second one after their police informant revealed she was at the police station again. Using knockout gas on a second attempt, they captured her and locked her in a Doomsday Room of their creation set to blow up sixty seconds after their departure. Just before departing, they had a artist sketch her costume for the second part of their plan.

(Spiderwoman I#25)- Escaping the Doomsday Room, Spider-Woman went to interrogate Braverman on the attempts on her life and the location of the money his men were wanting. Claiming he had no money anywhere, he was returned to his jail cell where he discovered a purse, a gun and instructions from Spider-Woman for an escape from prison. Over-powering a guard, he escaped through old maintenance tunnels and then over a wall with a waiting rope ladder. Meeting Spider-Woman outside the prison, they departed in a helicopter as he confessed about lying about the hidden money. He took her to where the money was hidden, but then his former gang kidnapped both of them from the bank and took them back to their headquarters. Once there, Spider-Woman fought them off to stall for time as the police arrived to recapture Braverman along with his entire criminal organization.

Comments: Created by Michael Fleischer, Trevor Von Eedon and Mike Esposito.

    It’s worth noting that the Gamesman’s crimes not only occur under the jurisdiction of Police Detective Captain Alexander Walsh, but under that of Sheriff Morris Walters whose tenure was established that same month in Savage She-Hulk#1.

The second Gamesman received a real name in Spider-Woman (Drew)'s entry in OHOTMU A-Z HC#10.

Profile by Will U

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Gamesman is not to be confused with:

• Games, gladiatorial exhibitions on Colosseum, @ Death’s Head/Killpower: Battletide#1
• Gamesmaster, Director of the Upstarts, Uncanny X-Men#283
• Gamesmaster, foe of GIJOE, GIJoe: The Animated Series, Episode: "The Gamesmaster," Syndicated
• Gamesworld, planet in the 31st Century, Cyberspace 3000#1

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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