TILLIE the HUN

Real Name: Matilda von Tromp

Identity/Class: Enhanced? human

Occupation: Professional criminal;
    former aerobics instructor at Hefty Huggable Women's Health Club

Group Membership: Band of the Bland (Black Hole/Morton Kribbee, Sitting Bullseye/Oliver Bedwette, Spanker/Fred Hovel)

Affiliations: Doctor Angst (Floyd Mangles);
    presumably le Beaver (Pierre Dentfris), Black Talon (Thibodaux Boudreaux), Jackpot, Jokester, Greedy Killerwatt, Kong Lomerate, Maller, Pro-Rata, Puffin, Quizling, and Wally Sidney (see comments);
    unrevealed relationship with Brotherhood of Evil Prepositions (Amonger, Arounder, Betweener, Of, Underneather, Withiner), Galactongue

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Cleveland, Ohio

First Appearance: Marvel Treasury Edition#12 (1976)

Powers: Tillie appears to be superhumanly strong, durable, etc to spar against the Hulk or She-Hulk.

    She also uses a large battle axe and spiked mace.

    She made a vow to only love a man who could defeat her in battle

History: Tillie's origin is unrevealed. It is unclear whether she is mutant, enhanced human, descended from viking gods, found a magic battle axe, was bitten by a radioactive ox, etc.

(Marvel Treasury Edition#12) - She was one of four mediocre would-be super-villains recruited by Dr. Angst to form the Band of the Bland. Their first mission was to assassinate Howard the Duck, who was at the time the presidential candidate for the All Night Party. Angst duped them into believing that they were in it solely to rise above their current levels and achieve fame. Angst himself was doing it for profit, as he was hired by unnamed parties. He also tricked them into believing he had enhanced their powers with the mystic placebo known as Promethium. The Band was defeated by Howard and the Defenders.

The Tillie was presumably sent to prison. After she was released from prison, she made a living as an aerobics instructor at a heavy womens' health club.

(Steve Gerber's unpublished script for Howard the Duck#1 "Secret Crisis II" (fb) - BTS) - Tillie was transported -- along with Dr. Angst and the rest of the Band of the Bland (Black Hole, Sitting Bullseye, Spanker), as well as le Beaver, Black Talon, Bzzk J'oh, Dr. Bong, Jackpot, Jokester, Greedy Killerwatt, Kong-Lomerate, Maller, Pro-Rata, Puffin, Quizling, and Wally Sidney -- to within a giant fire hydrant-like construct in an interdimensional space between Reality-616 and Reality-791021 (mirroring the storyline generated by the dark matter-powered Poporb of Krylorian techno-artist Chirreep).

    In addition to this  construct, a motorhome (specifically a Winnebago)-like structure -- containing Andy the Angel, Dakimh the Enchanter, Jennifer Kale, Korrek the Barbarian, Man-Thing, Master C'haaj, Hemlock Shoals, Claude Starkowski -- was also present.

(Steve Gerber's unpublished script for Howard the Duck#1 "Secret Crisis II") - After Howard the Duck encountered the Winnebago group, Hemlock Shoals identified the hydrant group. Dakimh noted that, apart from their evil, they seemed to have little in common...except that they all wanted Howard dead. And Spanker kept spanking Sidney.

    As Howard attempted to depart and met up with Chirreep, the monstrous mouth Galactongue appeared and disgorged an entire galaxy. As the contents formed a planet with an immense office building, Dakimh noted with concern the objects streaking toward them: The Brotherhood of Evil Prepositions (Amonger, Arounder, Betweener, Of, Underneather, Withiner) then appeared and challenged both groups to "Play both ends against the middle, and all you desire shall be yours."

    Both groups were transported to the office building on the planet formed from contents disgorged by Galactongue; the Spanker's group arrived in the boardroom.

(Steve Gerber's unpublished script for Howard the Duck#1 "Secret Crisis II") - Tillie sat on Doctor Angst's side of the table (as opposed to Doctor Bong's side), fourth down from Angst, directly between Sitting Bullseye and Spanker.

(Steve Gerber's unpublished script for Howard the Duck#1 "Secret Crisis II" - BTS) - Kong Lomerate led the villains in a plot to destroy the other group.

(Sensational She-Hulk I#15-17) - Years after his original caper, Angst escaped from prison to instrument a plot he had begun at the time of his imprisonment. Angst convinced Tillie and the rest of the Band to reorganize and assist him in his plot, the Cosmic Squish Principle. Essentially, Angst sought to release a multitude of previous compacted pocket universes, the Encroachiverses, to squish the rest of the Earth dimension. He established five locus points in five equally mediocre places: a square block in Manhattan including Rad Ronin Fujiyama Funhouse; Henderson, Nevada; El Segundo, California; most of New Jersey; and the planet Sqazzl. Within these five loci, Angst would create a new universe, the Insipiverse, which they could rule. This plot was foiled by a team composed of Howard (surprisingly enough), the Critic, Louise Mason, She-Hulk, the Terror, and Brent Wilcox. Tillie was overpowered by She-Hulk, but not without a fight.

Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema & Klaus Janson.

    During her battle with the Hulk in their first adventure, Tillie revealed that she had a Red Sonja-like vow to only love a man who could defeat her in battle. This brought the fight to a stalemate, because the Hulk feared that if he defeated her, she would try to love him. You can understand his fear.

    Tillie would be a good match for Gatecrasher, of the Technet. I think they wear the same size.

    Is a spiked mace a morningstar (or is that just if it's on a chain)?

    Gerber's unpublished script (http://www.stevegerber.com/writings/scripts/index.php3):

• Obviously, the point at the start of these was that the events of the Howard the Duck magazine series and Bizarre Adventures#34 never happened in Reality-616. 
• I don't know how the story was to end, but Howard's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entry confirmed Howard as not originally coming from Duckworld but that his reality had been warped/merged so that it was now his native world. The events of the Howard the Duck magazine occurred in Howard's history as a result of the reality merger. Steve Gerber himself approved the entry before it was published.
• Chireep's stories created or were based on an alternate reality (Earth-791021), which then merged with (or overwrote) Earth-616's, affecting Howard's behavior and memory. Howard indeed had all of the adventures from the magazines, and the few other stories prior to 1985, but they were the merged Howard, which is why he remembered Duckworld as his home. In that reality, his parents' names were Ronald and Henrietta according to Gerber's story, BTW.
• When Chireep stopped making stories, the alternate reality split from Earth-616, and Howard was flung into the void, which is where Gerber's unpublished story took place.
• The "next issue" blurb was to be:
                                 POWER PLAYS!  BACK-STABBING!  CAREER

                                  STRATEGIES!  RUG-PULLING!  DEATH!  NEW

                                  CLOTHES!  MORE DEATH!  PLUS-- IN CASE

                                  YOU MISSED IT IN 1974-- THE ORIGIN OF

                                  HOWARD THE DUCK!  ALL IN THE ASTOUNDING

                                  CONCLUSION OF "SECRET CRISIS II"--

                                  REALITY: ITS PREVENTION AND CURE!

images: (without ads)
Sensational She-Hulk I#16, p10, pan8 (Tillie the Hun main image)
Marvel Treasury Edition#12, pg. , panel  (Tillie first appearance)
Sensational She-Hulk I#16, p10, pan5 (Matilda von Tromp)

Appearances:
Marvel Treasury Edition#12 (1976) - Steve Gerber (writer), Sal Buscmea (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
unpublished Howard the Duck story by Gerber - 1985
Sensational She-Hulk I#15-17 (May-July, 1990) - Steve Gerber (writer), Bryan Hitch (pencils), Jim Sanders III (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)

First Posted: 12/24/2001
Last Updated: 10/25/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

unpublished Howard the Duck story by Gerber - 1985 Non-Marvel Copyright info
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