SUNDOWN
SUNDOWN
Real Name: David Patrick Lowell
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: currently unknown; formerly a research scientist
Group Membership: None
formerly: Osborn Chemical
Affiliations: Mary Kelleher, Spider-Man;
former employee of Osborn Industries
Enemies: Avengers, Dr. Strange, Fantastic Four, "Lucky" Lobo, Donald Menken, Norman Osborn, Charlie Snow, X-Men
Known Relatives: ex-wife (unnamed, the former Mrs. Lowell)
Aliases: "Sparky", "Shades", "Crackly"
Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York
Education: Ph.D. in Plant Physiology
First Appearance: Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual 1997
Powers/Abilities: Sundown drew on the energy of the sun, absorbing all heat and light. He has superhuman strength (potentially Class 100) and durability, and can fly at great speeds, fire potent energy bursts, grow to great size (at least 50 feet tall), heal from wounds almost instantly, and apparently teleport. His power limits are as yet unchecked, but even after first developing his powers, he could hold his own against the combined forces of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men, plus a few others.
Lowell is an intelligent scientist, specializing in the field of botany.
Height: 6'3" (variable)
Weight: 225 lbs. (variable)
Eyes: Green
Hair: Blond
History:
(Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual 1997 (fb) / Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1997
(fb)) - David Lowell's passion was in botany, and
he'd have been happy if he could spend all of his waking hours working with his
plants, and teaching plant biology and care to his young neighbor Mary Kelleher.
However, life got in the way. His wife hen-pecked him and criticized his lack of
ability to get a raise or a promotion at work.
(Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1997 (fb)) - Lowell was ecstatic when his study of photosynthesis, the process by which plants make energy from light, enabled him to develop the photogenesis process, which might allow a similar process in man. His excitement--and pressure from home--exceeding his wisdom, Lowell burst into Norman Osborn's office, interrupted him, showed his breakthrough, and demanded a raise and a promotion. However, Osborn, somewhat unstable from his recent, secret transformation into the Green Goblin, thought that the process had similarities to his own formula. Angry at Lowell for making demands of him and wishing to prevent others from learning his secrets, he instead had Lowell's lab shut down and had his agents destroy all evidence of his research. Frantic, Lowell rushed into his lab to drive to save his final photogenesis formula, and wound wearing (and drinking) most of it in the struggle. Within second, Lowell was transformed by the power in a brilliant burst of light.
(Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual 1997) - Osborn's security tried to take Lowell down, but donning one of their laboratory suits, he burst from the building, ranting and raving. Spider-Man tried to stop him and even heckled him slightly. Lowell blasted a "water tower" full of chemicals onto Spidey and escaped. He then continued to fly through the city, dazed and confused, attracting the attention of one superhero after another. Soon things escalated to a full scale battle in the middle of the city, including just about every hero present in New York at the time. Spider-Man, meanwhile had investigated and learned something of Lowell's origins, and he tried to reason with the distraught scientist. This only angered him further, and as he prepared to attack Spider-Man, he heard a noise in the other direction and fired on it--it was young Mary Kelleher, who had brought his spider plant to try to calm him. It was too late to take back the energy blast, which cost Mary her right arm. Brought back to reality by the horror of what he had done, Lowell surrendered to the police.
(Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1997 (fb)) - Lowell's wife soon filed for a divorce after his arrest, and while he could have escaped at any time, he was determined to serve his time as punishment for what he had done. While in prison, a pair of hardened criminals tried to shake him down. One of them, stuck him with a knife, but he simply healed himself and blasted them away. This impressed former crime-boss "Lucky" Lobo, who defended Lowell to the guards, and attempted to befriend Lowell, who didn't pay too much attention to Lobo.
(Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1997) - Ten years later, Lowell was released from prison. Donald Menken tried to recruit him to work for Osborn again, but Lowell, remembering how Menken had sided against him during the destruction of his lab, threw away his offer. Taking to the air to return the city without further interference, Lowell nearly ran into Spider-Man, who failed to remember him at first. Lowell had a hard time getting a job, due to his age and time in jail, but eventually took up some temporary work.
Fearing that Lowell might go over the brink again, Peter
Parker had investigative reporter Charlie Snow track him down. They met with
Lowell, but Snow goaded him into fire an energy blast at them that would have
seriously injured them if not for Pete's quick reflexes. Later still, Lowell was
tracked down by "Lucky" Lobo, who tried to convince him to come work for him.
When Lowell resisted, Lobo made it clear that they would hurt Mary Kelleher--now
a grown woman--if he did not comply. Spidey had followed Lowell and tried
to prevent him from getting involved with Lobo. Sundown initially went after
Spider-Man, but the webslinger was able to convince him to listen to his plan.
The two continued a fake fight, that took out the gunmen Lobo had trained on
Mary. Sundown then brought the seemingly unconscious Spider-Man in front of
Lobo, where they turned the tables on him and forced him to promise to stay away
from Mary. They then ran Lobo right into the waiting arms of the cops, who
arrested him for extortion and illegal handgun possession.
Sundown then told Spidey, before vanishing, that all he really wanted to do was brush up on his science and to put some sort of life together, and that he'd be happy if people forgot that Sundown ever existed.
Comments: Created by Kurt Busiek and Tom Lyle.
Hardened criminals? No, they weren't Viagra thieves...bah dump bump.
Lowell never really went by the name Sundown in his first adventure. Spidey referred to him by that name as afterthought, when he retold the events to Mary Jane.
Sundown has a full entry in OHotMU 2006 A-Z#11.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
Lucky Lobo
Mary
Kelleher
She was a young neighbor of Lowell's who loved his teachings about plants. She naively tried to calm the enraged Sundown by showing him her plant, and lost her right arm from an energy blast fired before he could see who it was. Mary recovered from this, and maintained both her positive outlook on life and her interest in botany. Working at Empire State University, she pursued her doctorate in plant physiology. She enjoyed working as a teaching assistant, but was most interested in her research, under Dr. Newhall. She remained blissfully unaware that she was targeted by Lobo's gang in an effort to force the cooperation of Sundown.
--Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual 1997 (Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1997(fb), AmzSpdm An1997
Appearances:
Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual 1997 - Kurt Busiek (writer), Tom Lyle (pencils), Robert Jones (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1997 - Roger Stern & Kurt Busiek (writers), Tom Lyle (pencils), Robert Jones (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Last updated: 04/30/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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