RALPHIE HUTCHINS

Real Name: Ralph "Ralphie" Hutchins

Identity/Class: Mutated Human

Occupation: Underworld Enforcer, former University Student

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Employee of the Doc and Shade, former friend of Daniel "Zapper" Ridge ; Kyr

Enemies: The She-Hulk, Doc, Earth-Lord

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Brute, Earth-Lord, Radius, Seeker, Torque; unnamed entity

Base of Operations: Los Angeles, California; UCLA

First Appearance: Savage She Hulk#6 (July, 1980)

Powers: Ralphie Hutchins possessed the ability to progressively mutate into various superhuman creatures with different superhuman powers. In his initial mutation as the Brute, he gained plastic-like skin with superhuman strength(Class 10), malleability, and the impact-absorption ability of the Blob. The gelationous substance that was his skin could be wrapped entirely around the She-Hulk as a cocoon but it wasn't strong enough to hold her. He also had complete control over every part of his blob-like body and much like the Sandman could reform his body despite the dispersal of his parts.

As the Seeker, Ralphie's skin became blue and he lost much of his malleability as he gained the ability to control all forms of energy, most especially electricity. He could control the electrical systems of cars and absorb any electrical stimulus around him and magnify it a thousandfold or convert it into a single powerful blast. He could also magnify the air around his foes into a shield.

As Radius, he gained the rhino-like thick hide of Thanos and the ability to control molecules. He could vibrate air into a shield , vibrate the ground into small isolated quakes and whip up winds to create rock-hard cocoons around his victims.

As Torque, his skin gained a steel-like resilence similar to that of the X-Men's Colossus which resembled an armored battlesuit. He also gained the ability to amplify his mass and weight. As a side result, his armorlike skin became an energy reserve able to burn out anything on a molecular level similar to microwave energy. He could also use it to create cocoons.

As Earth-Lord, Ralphie could animate the natural materials of its environment, soil, rock, plants, etc., forming giant hands and tentacles. It could transfer its consciousness into any of these materials in its surroundings, so that it could move into another form if its previous one were destroyed.

In Ralphie's final, unnamed form, as an entity of pure consciousness, it could expand the consciousness of others--banishing pain, and instilling self-confidence, a sense of purpose, and peace.

History: (Savage She-Hulk#6)- Ralphie Hutchins was attending medical college at the University of California when his best friend Daniel "Zapper" Ridge gave him a blood sample to analyze. He was unaware that the blood sample belonged to Jennifer Walters whose transformations into the She-Hulk were becoming more often and more erratic.

(Savage She-Hulk#9)- Ralphie referred Zapper to Dr. Michael Morbius over the blood sample.

(Savage She-Hulk#18-19)- Ralphie confronted Zapper with the knowledge that the blood sample came from the woman who became the She-Hulk. He confessed to having turned it over to a scientist known only as Doc. Fascinated by the recuperative power in the blood, the Doc demanded that they turn over the She-Hulk. Although he claimed he only wants the She-Hulk for her recuperative powers, he also desired to clone an army of superhumans from her. When she broke loose, a serum of her blood was injected into Ralphie transforming him into the huge yellow Brute. Clashing with the She Hulk, the Brute was literally ripped apart by her.

(Savage She-Hulk#21)- The Brute reformed and mutated into the Seeker. Implanting him with an inhibitor to control him, the Doc used him to gain control of the criminal underground and even had The Seeker lure the She-Hulk into The Arena, an criminal underground location for executions, as a show of power to the other crime-bosses. The Seeker, however, latched on to a main power cable to build up enough power to destroy the She Hulk, but couldn't control that amount of power and ended up buried in an explosion.

(Savage She-Hulk#22)- The Seeker survived and mutated into Radius. As a demonstration of his power to the Shade, he is sent to kill the She Hulk, but the battle ended in a stalemate as Radius retreated to safety.

(Savage She-Hulk#23)- Radius mutated into Torque and was once more sent to kill the She Hulk, but she unwittingly increased his power, and, unable to control the added energy, he too exploded.

(Savage She-Hulk#24-25) - Mutating once more, Radius became Earth-Lord. Kyr was able to partially usurp control over Earth-Lord. The Earth-Lord briefly battled She-Hulk until she removed the inhibitor from Kyr, which freed him to access his full power. Kyr unleashed his power, causing great pain to all of Doc's mutates and Earth-Lord. Earth-Lord sought to merge with Kyr to achieve a higher level of consciousness and escape the pain. However, as its level of consciousness increased, so did the pain. The Earth-Lord eventually surrendered, and completely as he regressed back through his previous incarnations back into Ralphie. He transformed back into the Brute, Seeker and Radius. As Torque, he was killed by the Doc using a helmet which amplified his brainwaves into a single mental blast.

In death, Ralphie 'mutated' once more into a being capable of living on a mental plane of existence as his consciousness invaded the Doc's mutates and gave them a sense of purpose. This entity also gave the others present the courage and desire to combine forces and oppose the Doc, defeating him.

The subsequent fate of the entity is unrevealed.

Comments: Created by David Anthony Kraft and Mike Vosburg.

The Brute, Seeker, Radius and Torque may have originally been intended as the She Hulk's gallery of foes. The cancellation of her series seemed to force an ending to all these characters by linking them up and killing them off all at once.

The pig inside of me forces me to point out that She-Hulk#24 clearly demonstrates that while She-Hulk is resistant to great temperature extremes, she is not immune to thelerethism (go look it up in a medical dictionary).--Snood.

Profile by: William Uchtman, with additions from Snood.

Clarifications:

Ralphie Hutchins has no known connection to:

• The Ralfzz, alien race, @ Marvel Comics Presents#52 (June, 1990)

Brute has no known connection to:

• Brute, Reed Richards of Counter-Earth's alternate self, @ Warlock I#5
• Brute, alias of DePrayve, @ Werewolf By Night I#24
• Brute, of Trash, large+strong+mute, @ Power Pack I#31
• Brute, a Morlock, one of Masque's agents, New Mutants I#99
• Brute of Earth-Mutant X, Hank McCoy of an alternate reality, @ Mutant X#1
• Brute Force, agents of the Secret Empire, @ Thunderbolts#31
• Brutus, Deviant emperor, @ Avengers Annual#20
• The Brute That Walks, Howard Avery, one-time monster, @ Journey Into Mystery I#65
• Bruttu, Howard, one-time monster, @ Tales Of Suspense I#22

Seeker has no known connection to:

• Seeker, Tarm, of the Spaceknights, @ Rom Annual#2
• Seeker, Inhuman employed by Maximus, @ Fantastic Four I#46
• Seeker, an alias of Arthur Stacy, used as part of a paramilitary squad, @ Amazing Spider-Man II#23
• Seeker, Dr. Doom's Robot, @ Fantastic Four I#144
• Seeker, another Inhuman, brother of the original, @ Fantastic Four Unlimited#2
• Seekers, armored mercenaries, originally composed of three brothers who had broken off from AIM, @ Iron Man I#214
• The Seekers, the 1960s Australian band who sang Georgy Girl.

Radius has no known connection to:

• Radius, member of Alpha Flight, @ Alpha Flight II#1

Torque has no known connection to:

• Torque, of the Twisted Sisters, @ Fantastic Four III#18, X-Men II#105
  --I couldn't really make any sense of this. Originally, it seemed like Torque was just a "virtual reality"form of the Invisible Woman, mutated by the other Twisted Sisters, then she appeared as a separate character. Neither issue is worth re-reading to sort it out.
• Torque of Earth-MC2, of the X-People, @ J2#2

The unnamed entity which Ralphie became has no known connections to other entities (so named or unnamed) in the MU

• The Entity, the dark aspect of Charles Xavier @ X-Men I#106, X-Men/Micronauts#1
• an extra-terrestrial creature who came to Earth in the late 19th Century and supplied the advanced weaponry to the Wizard of the West, @ Marvel Holiday Special 1996/4
• the collective being formed by the union of the members of the Nest, @ Marvel Team-Up Annual#1
• the being from the Microverse that hatched a multitude of eggs and seeded them throughout the Microverse, @ Micronauts II#1
• the collective being created by the merging of Silver and Auric, @ Alpha Flight I#121
• the being from the Void dimension that possessed Mikhail Rasputin and drove him insane, @ Uncanny X-Men#28_, 374
• a demonic creature unwittingly formed by Nugent via the construction of an arcane database gathering program, @ Magik II#1, 3
• the "Friends" of Wendy, @ Fantastic Four I#238
• something from the Negative Zone, @ Mutant X#25
• The "Entity from the Moon" of the Ultraverse, a portion of the Great Ship that caused the development of superhuman powers in many of the Ultras, Break-Thru#1
• --the dozens of characters I've missed in this list

Earth Lord has no known connection to:

• Earth Lord, member of Earth Force and human ally of Thor, @Thor 395
• The Earth Lords, of which Shadow Lord was the last surviving member, @ Avengers I#207

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