POLTERGEIST
Real Name: Michael “Mickey” Silk
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: Runaway, former High School Student
Group Membership: Heartbreak Hotel (Kate, Link, Lucy),
Affiliations: Beast, Daddy Longlegs, Dazzler, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Tigra
Enemies: Alexander Flynn, the Gladiators, Locksmith, Hugo Longride, Ralph, Tick-Tock
Known Relatives: Henry Silk (foster father), Samantha (foster mother)
Aliases: The name “Poltergeist” is German for “noisy ghost.”
Base of Operations: Los Angeles, California, formerly San Francisco, California
First Appearance: Spider-Woman I#49 (April, 1983)
Powers/Abilities: Poltergeist possesses uncontrollable psychokinetic power to cause improbable (but not impossible) events to occur, such as fires and explosions. Tied to his emotional states, they can affect whatever is closest to his mind at the time, such as when he broke handcuffs holding him. There is also some indication that he may be susceptible to psychic phenomenon.
History: (Spider-Woman I#49 (fb) - BTS) - Mickey was a mutant. Strange incidents had seemed to follow him around for several years, such as fires and explosions, and many believed erroneously that Mickey was an arsonist without guessing the truth. He had been through several foster parents. After Henry and Samantha Silk took him as a foster child, they had similar experiences to their predecessors, and Mickey denied any knowledge of the incidents which occurred intermittently.
(Spider-Woman I#49 (fb)) - There was an explosion in the school during a baseball game that sent him into a panic, and he fled still wearing his baseball uniform.
(Spider-Woman I#49) - Fleeing to Los Angeles, Mickey became paranoid and delusional, seeing danger all around him. The police briefly caught him, but then he escaped and fled to the local bus depot, where he encountered Tigra of the Avengers. Sympathizing with his problems, Tigra agreed to help the terrified youth. The two of them hid out together in a clock tower as Spider-Woman--hired by the Silks--scoured the city looking for Mickey. As Mickey’s powers activated the tower, Spider-Woman investigated and found Tigra protecting Silk. After a cursory clash, they deduced that Mickey was causing the things that were happening, and they began calling him "Poltergeist." Spider-Woman promised not to turn Mickey or Tigra over to the police, but when she returned to give them the message, they had mysteriously vanished.
(Spider-Woman I#49 (fb) - BTS / Spider-Woman#50) - Poltergeist and Tigra were kidnapped by the Locksmith and the psychic Tick Tock as they cleansed all of San Francisco of its superhumans. Mickey was attached to a device to neutralize his powers via a "brain-lock," which sent a mild electrical pulse through his brain to render him catatonic.
(Spider-Woman I#50) - When Spider-Woman was captured by the Locksmith as well, she managed to get Tigra to insult Poltergeist to heighten his distress, causing his powers to short out their specially designed cells. Switching costumes with Gypsy Moth, Spider-Woman freed the others and helped them to escape.
While they were attending a subsequent party at the home of Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman),Tigra promised to teach Poltergeist how to use his powers . During the party though, Jessica’s sprit was taken into the past by her mentor Magnus to battle Morgan Le Fay, but on her return, she discovered her body was dead. She then wished that her friends would forget her so that they would not mourn her, and Magnus removed all memories of her from Poltergeist, Tigra, and everyone else present.
(Avengers I#240 (fb)) - Several of Jessica’s guests, however, recovered their memories of her after the shock of seeing her lying on the ground dead. As Tigra rushed her to the hospital, Poltergeist stayed behind at Jessica’s house as Spider-Woman’s ghost returned looking for her body. Frightened away from the house, he took off, never to return.
(Beauty and the Beast#1 (BTS)) - Returning to Los Angeles, Poltergeist was taken into the Heartbreak Hotel.
(Beauty & the Beast#1) - Poltergeist, along with six other mutants from the Heartbreak Hotel, found a powers-out-of-control and unconscious Dazzler along a Los Angeles beach and brought her back to the Heartbreak Hotel. Later Mickey and Kate unsuccessfully tried to keep the Beast from entering the room where Dazzler was recovering from her ordeal.
(Beauty & the Beast#2) - Poltergeist witnessed a kiss between Beast and Dazzler in the Hotel's sunroom, which reminded him of his own inability to feel anything without setting loose the 'poltergeist' inside him. He started thinking about Spider-Woman, whom he still missed and still believed to be dead, and accidentally wrecked the sunroom's windows. Dazzler told him that one day he would gain control his powers, and then she comforted him.
(Beauty & the Beast#3) - Poltergeist was present when Kate told the Beast to follow his heart and to try to rescue Dazzler from the Gladiators. Later, he and Link decided to go and rescue Dazzler from the Gladiators themselves.
(Beauty & the Beast#4)- Poltergeist and Link arrived at the Underground Theatre where the Gladiators were based, and they broke in. They found their way to the Arena, where they found Beast, Dazzler, and Max Rocker fighting against Flynn and the rest of the Gladiators. Poltergeist's powers wrecked the Arena’s props and made the debris fall on the Gladiators. Flynn captured Poltergeist and threatened to wring his neck if Dazzler, Beast, and Rocker didn't surrender to him. Mickey was rescued by Link, who used his powers to force Flynn to drop Poltergeist. Link then started to strangle Flynn, but Dazzler talked him out of doing it.
Poltergeist and Link were then told by Dazzler and Beast to leave the Theatre before they were hurt, or worse. Later, both boys decided to leave the Heartbreak Hotel and hit the roads to see what was out there in the world. When last seen they were discussing traveling to either Wyoming or Texas to see if they could become cowboys.
(Civil War: Battle Damage Report) - Tony Stark considered Poltergeist as a potential Initiative recruit.
Comments: Created by Ann Nocenti and Brian Postman. "Poltergeist" is German for "noisy ghost" If Poltergeist were a mutant, it would seem to suggest that we have mutants in our world too. We have psychics, mediums, clairvoyants and individuals who cause poltergeist activity here too. Neither Dazzler nor Beast informed Poltergeist that Jessica Drew was still alive (she recuperated with the X-Men after Doctor Strange restored her to her body), but then, he didn’t ask either. There are real cowboy jobs available in this day and age out West for anyone interested in the lifestyle, no previous horseback experience needed (or so I've heard), so it is possible for Mickey and Link to have become cowboys for awhile if they so desired. BTW, Link has telekinetic powers (basic lifting powers are the only ones shown so far) that he uses to clean up after Mickey's 'brainstorms'. The boys decide that since their powers have an “order & chaos” thing going they should team up and help each other out. Profile
By: Will U and
Elf With A Gun CLARIFICATIONS: Poltergeist should not
be confused with: Images List:
Spiderwoman I#49 pg 6, panel 1, 4, and 5. Appearances: Last updated
: 02/07/04 Any Additions/Corrections? please
let me know .
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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--Snood.
Spider-Woman I#49-50 (April-June, 1983) - Ann Nocenti (writer), Brian Postman (pencils), Sam De La Rosa (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Avengers I#240 (February, 1984) - Ann Nocenti & Roger Stern (writers), Al Milgrom (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Beauty & the Beast#1-4 (December, 1984 - June, 1985) - Ann Nocenti (writer), Don Perlin (pencils), Kim DeMulder (inks), Michael Higgins (editor)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report (2007)
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