SCAVENGERSCAVENGER
Real Name: Robert Nicolle
Identity/Class: Human, further mutated by magic
Occupation: Pawn of Thog
Group Membership: Unkillables (Marjorie Brink, Immortalis, Madcap, Harry Sikes, Vic Slaughter, Suicide, Yi Yang)
Affiliations: Corruptor, Flip, Wolverine (Logan/James Howlett); agent of Thog,
unwittingly of Nox;
formerly Contagion (Winsor)
Enemies: Contagion (Winsor), Man-Thing, Richard Rory;
victims included Elsbeth Duhl,
Millicent Godfrey, Colleen Sanders;
formerly Wolverine (Logan/James Howlett)
Known Relatives: Danielle (sister)
Aliases: Plunderer...Pillager...Ravisher...Spoiler (names he considered)
Base of Operations: Atlanta, Georgia; former resident of unnamed mental institution
First Appearance: Man-Thing I#19 (July, 1975)
Powers:
The Scavenger has no sense of touch, and cannot feel pain. He has
tremendous recuperative powers, enabling him to complete recover
from otherwise disfiguring injuries. He possessed some measure of
superhuman strength, most likely enhanced human, and he could
fly.
From Thog, he gained the power to drain the life energy and
emotions from others on contact, leaving them an empty skeleton.
While draining a victim, he temporarily regained the sense of
touch, and felt great pleasure. He preferred to use his powers on
women, and drain their powers with a kiss.
The emotions Robert drained from his victims were transmitted to
his sister Danielle.
History: (Man-Thing I#21(fb))-Robert Nicolle
was born without the sense of touch. He was initially thought to
be clumsy because he couldn't feel something he was supposed to
be holding. One day they found him holding his hand over a
flaming stove, showing no pain as he cooked his own hand. They
brought him to specialists, who identified his lack of sensation,
but could do nothing about it.
When he went to college, his
good looks made him popular with the women, but he couldn't feel
a kiss or a caress, nor could he respond to them, and so he was
soon alone again. He attempted to disfigure himself, to ruin his
good looks, but his regernative powers always healed things back
to normal. Eventually he was caught attempting to commit suicide,
and was soon locked up in a padded cell.
(Man-Thing I#22(fb))-Robert's sister, Danielle, had unknowingly entered into a pact with the demon Thog. She revealed her brother's problems to Thog's agents, who decided to involve Robert in their plans. Thog, or his agents, came to Robert in his cell, and granted him the power to gain sensation as he drained the life force from others.
(Man-Thing I#19-21)-The Scavenger went on a rampage,
sucking the life and emotions from his victims, and loving every
minute of it. One of his attempts was thwarted by the Man-Thing,
and he only left his victim insane, rather than dead. The
Scavenger tracked down the Man-Thing to a hotel and attacked him.
When he saw how futile his attacks were, he knew fear...and
you know how that goes. Robert ended up with a big hand
print burned into his face. It seems he wanted to destroy
himself, but was still afraid to have another cause his death.
Still, he was only stunned, and once he regained his senses, he
flew away.
He next abducted Elsbeth Duhl, the wife of Roland, another pawn
of Thog, and told her his origins before draining her life, and
then cuddling up with her skeleton for a night's sleep.
The Scavenger was not seen again, and the effects of Thog's
defeat and the destruction of the Nightmare Boxes had upon him
are unknown.
(Dark Reign Files) - Quasimodo researched Scavenger for Norman Osborn.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor hired Scavenger to join the Unkillables.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1) - Scavenger joined Winsor and other Unkillables in a night club where Winsor used the Corruptor's sweat to cause Wolverine and everyone else in the club to kill each other.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3) - After Wolverine
took out Slaughter and Suicide Scavenger beat him up with his bare
fists. Breaking all his bones in his hands and losing his left foot in
the process against Wolverine while feeling nothing and laughing.
Scavenger joined Winsor and the other Unkillables in
the lab after Wolverine was finally caught and listened to Winsor's
ramblings.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) ) - Scavenger and Marjorie watched as Yi Yang started her session to pick Wolverine apart bit by bit.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4) - Scavenger and Madcap watched Yi Yang on a screen torturing Wolverine. Madcap compared Yi Yang to his dead sister and got into a fight with Scavenger, who acted like a creep about Madcap's dead sister, but Contagion ended the fight by threatening them with a virus that would cause severe hemorrhagic gastritis. After Yi Yang was finished with Wolverine Scavenger was next in line and absorbed Wolverine's life force over and over again. He chided Wolverine for not loving and enjoying life.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4 - BTS) - Scavenger drained Wolverine's life force 11 times in all, and even vomited at one point.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#5) - Scavenger, Suicide and Slaughter beat up Wolverine, but when Scavenger breathed in Slaughter in gaseous form he was incapacitated for the rest of the fight because Slaughter's anti-life force was the opposite of what Scavenger needed.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#7 (fb) ) - Wolverine remembered Scavenger absorbing his life force in nightmarish fashion.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11) - Winsor left Scavenger and Slaughter in their incapacitated state.
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12) - Winsor's son Flip telepathically aided Scavenger and Slaughter to get out of their miserable state. He joined Wolverine and the other Unkillables in devouring Winsor to end his threat. Afterward Harry Sikes and Marjorie Brink decided to keep Scavenger and the other Unkillables in line by turning them into a mercenary crew.
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber and Jim Mooney.
The Nightmare Box and Thog profiles (pending) should explain the rest of this somewhat, but remember...it is Gerber, after all.
In his initial appearance, he ranted about his mommy and teachers and drill instructor and television and magazines...how they lied to him and tried to keep him down. I'm not sure where that fits into his history or if he just read it in the book of crazy.
It took some time for him to turn up again and now he is out there as a mercenary....as far as we know.
--Markus Raymond
In "Wolverine: The Best There Is" Beast was scanning
for Wolverine's "X-Gene" and managed to lock on, when asked by Cyclops
if anyone else was there, Beast (who can be considered an expert if
anyone can) said and I quote "Some very strange biological and tech
scans, but no other x-genes."... all of the Unkillables were in the
same room as Logan at the time, which means that Scavenger IS NOT a
mutant...or rather do not carry the X-Gene and so aren't Homo
Superior...
--Pointed out by Bob Frazer
Clarifications: This Scavenger has no
known connections to:
Elsbeth Duhl was the wife of Roland Duhl, who
was a pawn of Thog in his plot involving the Nightmare Boxes.
Eventually she got fed with Roland's increasing craziness and
left him. The Scavenger swooped down and claimed her, saying she
had been promised to him by Thog. After telling her his origins,
he drained her life, killling her.
--Man-Thing I#21
Millicent Godfrey was a waitress at the King Donut shop. The Scavenger flew into her store and sucked the life out of her after he had failed to complete the transaction with Colleen.
--Man-Thing I#19
Colleen Sanders had just walked out on her husband, Paul, and two sons, Mark and Chris. The Scavenger leapt on top of her car, tore open the roof, and forced her to crash. His assault on her was stopped by the Man-Thing before it could kill her. The Scavenger fled, but even so, Colleen was left in incoherent, babbling wreck.
--Man-Thing I#19
images:
Man-Thing I#19, p15, pan5 (main)
Man-Thing I#19, p7, pan1 (headshot)
Man-Thing I#19, p17, pan4 (without mask)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#5, p12, pan2 (Scavenger with Winsor)
Appearances:
Man-Thing I#19 (July, 1975) - Steve Gerber (writer), Jim Mooney (pencils), Frank Springer (inks), Len Wein (editor)
Man-Thing I#20-22 (August-October, 1975) - Steve Gerber (writer), Jim Mooney (artist), Len Wein (editor)
Dark Reign Files (February, 2009) - Michael Hoskin & various others (writer), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 (February, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (April, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#4-5 (May-June, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#7 (August, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#11-12 (January, 2012) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
First Posted: 11/05/2001
Last updated: 06/23/2013
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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