GODWULFGODWULF
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Alternate Reality (Earth-7484) human, cyborg? (see comments)
Occupation: Freedom Fighter;
former
technician/field agent for Roxxon Oil's Nth Command
Affiliations: Redeemers;
Iron Butterfly (former lover);
The CIA's Luther Manning clone, Deathlok
(Michael Collins),
Deathlok the Demolisher, Siege;
Justice Peace and the
Time Variance Authority (loose,
intermittent alliances)
formerly Roxxon's Nth Command, the Nth Commandos, and Henry
Akai/Timestream;
Earth-616's
Nth Command
Enemies:
Doomsday Mechs, Hellinger, Justice Peace,
Luther Manning of Earth-616, Timestream, Time Variance Authority;
formerly Deathlok the Demolisher
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Skulker of the City's Underside; Perpetrator of the Godwulf Principle
Base of Operations: The former Statue of
Liberty, Manhattan, Earth-7484
First Appearance: Astonishing Tales I#36 (July, 1976)
Powers/Abilities: Godwulf primarily relies on
physical skills including hand-to-hand combat, archery, and rope
swinging. 
Despite his otherwise primitive appearance, Godwulf apparently has cybernetic technology within his body, allowing him to plug into and connect with computer systems directly.
Godwulf also has a mastery of advanced technology, including a
vast communications network and a functional time machine.
He eventually wore a belt and a pair of gauntlets which allowed him to navigate the timestream on his own. One of his gauntlets was stolen, thus, at least temporarily, neutralizing this ability.
History:
(Captain America I#288
(fb)/Deathlok II#34) - Godwulf acted for 6-10 years as an agent
of the Nth Command, a subsidiary of the Brand Corporation, which was a subsidiary of Roxxon
Oil. These years of service culminated in Operation:
Purge. One day, several units of Nth Commandos had made synchronized attacks on the headquarters of the Fantastic Four,
Avengers, X-Men, and Defenders. Using Nth Projectors, all of
these adventurers were displaced to alternate realities where
they would soon die. Also, individual metahuman adventurers had
been hunted down and similarly teleported. Roxxon, with no
metahumans to worry about, attacked the U.S. government,
intending a quick coup d'etat.
However, the Nth Projectors consumed so much power that it had taken a long time to generate just the power for Operation: Purge, so using them for the coup d'etat was out of the question. Roxxon thus relied on more conventional weaponry for their struggle against the U.S. government. A prolonged struggle resulted. The U.S. government fragmented, with the CIA setting up a hegemony here, the military a hegemony there. Overseas, repercussions included war in the Near East. Then wars started up in other hotspots. Finally, a spectacular attack on New York-by who it remains unclear-took place. An evacuation was attempted, but more people may have died in the panic to escape than in the actual bombing.
Scrounging together some leftover technology, Godwulf -- having changed his views on life as a result of the previous events -- and other former mercenaries formed the Redeemers, out to reform the world. Among these Redeemers was Iron Butterfly, who had also been part of Nth Command's Operation: Purge, and who became Godwulf's lover.
(Astonishing Tales II#36 - BTS / Marvel Spotlight#33 (fb) - BTS) - While Deathlok battled Hellinger's Doomsday-Mech, Godwulf clandestinely caused it to vanish before it could destroy Deathlok.
(Astonishing Tales II#36) - Godwulf encountered Deathlok the Demolisher at Manhattan's 23rd Street Station, where they cooperated in taking out some armed criminals (apparently former agents of Simon Ryker). Godwulf then told Deathlok that his presence in the subways was unneeded and unwanted and then left him. Deathlok followed Godwulf back to his base, but walked into the time portal he had set, which transported him back to the modern era.
(Marvel Spotlight#33) - Godwulf apologized after the fact for having transported Deathlok away, stating that he had merely done what was most expedient.
(Marvel Spotlight#33 - BTS / Marvel Two-In-One I#27 (fb) - BTS) - Godwulf, who had only sent Deathlok back in time to remove him from Hellinger's attention, attempted to return Deathlok to his proper time. However, this plan backfired, since Hellinger had monitored Godwulf's displacement of Deathlok, and not knowing who Godwulf was, Hellinger decided to return Deathlok to his proper time to find out. Independently, Godwulf also attempted to return Deathlok to his proper time. Neither got Deathlok, since the present villain Mentallo learned of Deathlok's existence by eavesdropping on Spider-Man's thoughts, and his partner the Fixer used a Doctor Doom-style time machine to bring Deathlok to the present and enslave him. Godwulf lost track of Deathlok due to this.
(Captain America#288 (fb) - BTS) - Godwulf was approached by the CIA created Luther Manning clone. The clone stated that he theorized that Deathlok might still be alive in another era. Godwulf believed him.
(Captain America I#286) - Godwulf transported the
CIA-created Luther Manning clone back in time about eight years
to recover Deathlok. The clone arrived in the present in a subway
station. He was able to locate Deathlok at a Roxxon
facility-Roxxon had stolen Deathlok after the cyborg had been
held by S.H.I.E.L.D. The clone drew the attention of Captain
America, who also investigated the facility.
(Captain America I#287) - Although the Luther Manning clone died, Deathlok was freed by him and Captain America. Captain America, after the quick burial of the Luther Manning clone, asked Deathlok about the fate of the metahuman adventurers in Deathlok's world. Deathlok responded that they had all disappeared at some point about eight years earlier than Deathlok's time, even telling Captain America the exact year. Since Deathlok had been displaced from his time by about eight years in the first place, the year Deathlok told Captain America was for Cap the current year.
Deathlok, having learned from the Luther Manning-clone where he had materialized in Captain America's present, went to the subway station. The understandably concerned Captain America followed him, and so was taken to the future when Godwulf brought back Deathlok. Astounded to see Captain America, Godwulf mentioned how the patriot served as a role model for him. Godwulf then showed Captain America the future New York City.
(Deathlok II#34 (fb) - BTS) - Timestream backed Godwulf in his opposition of Hellinger.
(Captain America I#288) - Godwulf explained what had happened eight years in the past of Earth-7484, and then showed Captain America his team, the Redeemers. He also explained who Hellinger was. Captain America and Deathlok agreed to lead an attack on Hellinger's base.
While pursuing the assault on Hellinger's headquarters, the Redeemers and allies were trapped in a maze. One of the walls of the maze sprouted tentacles that caught Iron Butterfly and Godwulf. Although the two were thus removed from the battle, Deathlok and Captain America managed to defeat Hellinger. Godwulf and the Redeemers escaped the maze after the defeat of Hellinger, and Deathlok stated he would help them rebuild the world.
(Captain America I#289 - BTS) - Captain America returned to the modern era of Earth-616, where he succeeded in destroying the power source of Nth Command, effectively nullifying Operation: Purge, and thus diverging Earth-616 from Earth-7484.
(Deathlok II#32 (fb)) - Godwulf led Deathlok and the Redeemers on a mission to oppose Timestream, a foreign monarch, who was at the time unidentified to all others involved. They successfully destroyed his command center (from which he had launched his cyber-tank army), but all of the Redeemers were killed in the struggle. Deathlok and Godwulf were the only ones to make it out alive.
The retaliation for this mission led to massive nuclear attacks from three sides. After learning that Godwulf had been withholding information from the others, Deathlok separated from Godwulf.
(Deathlok II#31 (fb) - BTS) - Godwulf underwent a trial and was disciplined by the Time Variance Authority for his use of unauthorized time travel.
(Deathlok II#33 (fb) - BTS) - Godwulf fought alongside Justice Peace during some unknown struggle.
(Deathlok II#33 (fb) - BTS) - The Time Variance Authority commissioned Godwulf to capture and execute Timestream for his threats to the temporal continuum. Godwulf defeated Timestream, but gave him the option of life imprisonment. Timestream accepted that option and later escaped.
OK, for these issues the terminology gets
really confusing. Make sure you check out the clarifications for
the various Deathloks.
(Deathlok II#29/2) - Eighteen years after the struggle
against Hellinger, Godwulf observed as Timestream recruited
Deathlok the Demolisher to his side.
(Deathlok II#31) - The Time Variance Authority sent Godwulf to the modern era of Earth-616 to capture Timestream and stop his plot to takeover the timeline of Earth-7484 shortly after Operation: Purge. Godwulf then recruited Deathlok (Michael Collins) on Earth-616 and his ally Siege to assist him. He explained to Collins and Siege the past history of Deathlok the Demolisher and explained Timestream's plan.
(Deathlok II#32) - Godwulf, Collins, and Siege fought Deathlok the Demolisher, Timestream, and his Bangers, an army of extradimensional cyborgs. Timestream's plan was to travel into the past of Earth-616, and kill Captain America and Deathlok the Demolisher (during the events detailed above for Captain America I#286+287), to prevent them from stopping Operation: Purge. Godwulf, Collins, and Siege successfully delayed Timestream and his agents, allowing the past versions of Cap and the Demolisher to travel to the future of Earth-7484 (for the events of Cap287+288). Godwulf shot Timestream with an arrow, hoping to kill him, but Timestream's powers allowed him to survive. Timestream then unleashed a temporal vortex that pulled all of the remaining combatants into the timestream itself--the junction point of all time and dimension.
(Deathlok II#33) - The Time Variance Authority
sent Justice Peace to recapture Godwulf, to bring him in for
trial and potential nullification. This was a punishment for his
failure to capture Timestream, and they planned to nullify all
involved timelines to remedy the potential threat to the entire
temporal continuum. Justice Peace and the TVA Police Department
captured Godwulf, but Siege and Deathlok/Collins freed him and
temporarily got the drop on Justice Peace and the TVAPD. Godwulf
made a deal to give him 24 hours (absolute time) to eliminate
Timestream.
Godwulf, Collins, and Siege caught up with Timestream and his
cyborg allies, including both Deathlok the Demolisher and Luther
Manning of Earth-616, who had been transformed into another
Deathlok by Timestream. After some struggle, Timestream and his
allies fled into another temporal vortex.
(Deathlok II#34) - While Manning of Earth-616
died in combat with Deathlok/Collins, Godwulf and Siege
materialized in the past of Earth-Deathlok, during the events of
the successful Operation: Purge. There they opposed Timestream's
efforts to destroy his own past self: Timestream hoped to undo of
the Nth Projectors on him, apparently destroying him.
Godwulf then stopped the Demolisher from killing Akai, explaining
that the Time Variance Authority's mission had been accomplished,
but further disruptions of events of their timeline would have
repercussions from the TVA. The Demolisher, also blaming Godwulf
for the events that led to the nuclear war, stole one of
Godwulf's time gauntlets, preventing him from navigating through
time on his own, and teleported away. Justice Peace then arrived
and sent everyone back to their respective timelines.
Comments: Created by Rich Buckler.
Godwulf's and Iron Butterfly's Earth-616 counterparts were involved in the failed Operation: Purge, as seen in Captain America I#289. Their subsequent fates are unrevealed. Now there's a story!
If the storyline from Deathlok is confusing, allow me to summarize. It basically involved every single incarnation of Deathlok (who existed at the time of its publication) and revolved around stopping Timestream from wreaking havoc with the timelines--and thus prevented the TVA from nullifying corrupted timelines, which might otherwise have included Earth-Deathlok and possibly even Earth-616.
In the flashback to Operation: Purge in Captain
America I#288, we get a shot of the Avengers getting displaced.
Thor and Janet Van Dyne can be seen clearly, but there are also a
couple of other figures, a woman who could be She-Hulk, and
someone of whom we only see an otherwise bare arm with a bracelet
on it (of a style different from those of Thor). That last person
could have been Namor or Hercules. Captain America I#288 was
published in real-time in 1983, so presumably the writer intended
the Avengers shown being displaced as the people who were in the
Avengers in the issues of that series published in 1983.
That's correct. As can be seen in Cap289, which details the
events of Earth-616's Operation: Purge, the involved Avengers
were Thor, the Wasp, She-Hulk, and Eros/Starfox--Snood.
The whole sliding timescale accounts for the dickering around
about what year Deathlok gave Captain America for the
disappearance of all the metahuman heroes. In the actual
dialogue, Deathlok says "Back in 1983". Some have
extrapolated that the sliding timescale may not exist for
Earth-Deathlok, so the reference to 1983 by Deathlok may serve as
an absolute reference, not a topical one; however, Captain
America said in response "Impossible! This is 1983!".
Since due to the sliding timescale, 1983 is now in the pre-modern
era for Earth-616, and thus the Fantastic Four, Avengers, etc.
were not even around back then, Captain America would have been
puzzled by Deathlok's saying that Operation: Purge took place in
that year. After all, with 1983 in the pre-modern era, Roxxon
would not have had any metahuman adventurers to hunt down! In any
event, Captain America would not have reacted with the sense of
urgency to what Deathlok said that he did show, had the reference
to 1983 been an absolute reference.
Similarly, Godwulf's noting in his account of his origin that he
joined Roxxon in the mid-1970's remains a topical reference.
I'll have to disagree with this argument. Earth-Deathlok
could well have a sliding time-scale, if the timeline paralleled
that of Earth-616. However, there are a number of examples where
while events parallel those of Earth-616, the time scale does not
slide with it (or at least not in that era). For example,
Earth-MC2, the timeline of Spider-Girl, is supposed to take place
in the modern era, and while most of what occurred on Earth-616
occurred there as well, the era of Spider-Man took place some
15-20 years in the past. It's still a sliding timescale, but it
is set 15-20 years different from Earth-616. In another example,
in what I've identified as Earth-1961, @ Fantastic Four Annual
1998, the Fantastic Four's space flight was fixed in time at
1961. Thus when someone from Earth-616 traveled to that realm in
1998 (part of the modern era of Earth-616), 37 years had elapsed
since the flight.
So, there's not really any evidence one way or the other, and
Earth-Deathlok could be either an alternate timeline, or an
alternate future, meaning his activities would have taken place @
5-8 years from the current events in the MU. I personally prefer
to make it an alternate timeline, with the events of Earth-616
having slid past it. That way if the timeline's visited again,
real time will have passed and there might be significant
changes. This is consistent with what has been shown, as the
Deathlok the Demolisher recruited to act in Deathlok II#29, 31-34
had lived for 18 years beyond the events of his last interaction
with Captain America.
Ah, well. Dorcas Farcas.
--Snood
New images by David A. Zuckerman
Profile by Per Degaton and Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Godwulf of Earth-Deathlok should be distinguished from his Earth-616 counterpart.
Neither has any known connection to:
Godwulf's Redeemers have no known connection to:
Big Man of the Redeemers has no known connection to:
Iron Butterfly's name is
derived from the band who wrote "In a Gadda Da Vida"
(In the Garden of Eden)--1968
She should be distinguished from her Earth-616 counterpart
She has no known connection to:
Sage has no known connection to:
I don't know if the name Swashbuckler was deliberately chosen as a(n) homage to Rich Buckler, who came up with the idea for Deathlok, or whether it was coincidental.
Nth Command is the same operation with which the Nth Man, Thomas Lightner, later Mysterium, was involved.
Godwulf's Redeemers
(Left to Right)
Sage appeared to have some form of ESP, including limited precognition
Swashbuckler was a skilled fighter and a ladies man, although his grand-standing sometimes put him at risk.
Gentle Sam was big and strong, but had the eyes of a child, and was quite open and warm.
Big Man was dark and angry--a born scrapper.
Iron Butterfly was a past
member of Nth Commandos and participated in Operation: Purge
alongside Deathlok. She grew to become his lover in the
succeeding years.
Her Earth-616 counterpart was seen in Captain America I#289.
The above five were all Nth Commandos, mercenaries who didn't consider the ramifications of their actions until it was too late. After banding together, they strove to build some meaning from the chaos they brought on, to atone.
Besides the above five leaders, there was a whole legion of members, although the leaders maintained the closest bonds with themselves and with Godwulf. They all fought alongside Deathlok the Demolisher and Captain America in the defeat of Hellinger, with the unrealized assistance of Timestream. However, Godwulf later turned against Timestream, who had become a foreign power. Godwulf led Deathlok and the Redeemers in a mission to bring down Timestream's power base. However, while the mission was successful, all of the Redeemers except Godwulf himself were killed in the effort. Godwulf had become obsessed with his mission, and didn't even glance backwards as Iron Butterfly was killed a few feet behind him.
--Captain America I#288 (Captain America I#288
(fb)-BTS, 288, Deathlok II#32 (fb)
The others would presumably have counterparts of Earth-616,
involved in Operation: Purge, but they were all Behind-The-Scenes
in Captain America I#289.
images:
Deathlok II#31, p12, pan2 (main)
Astonishing Tales I#36, p13, pan4 (head shot)
Captain America I#288, p1 (full body)
Captain America I#289, p6, pan1 (Earth-616 version)
Captain America I#288, p4, pan2 (Redeemers)
Appearances:
Astonishing Tales I#36 (July, 1976) - Rich Buckler (writer/pencils), Keith Pollard (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Marvel Spotlight I#33 (April, 1977) - David Anthony Kraft (writer),
Rich Buckler, Mike Nasser & Arvell Jones (pencils), Klaus Janson
(inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Captain America I#286-289 (October, 1983 - January, 1984) - J.M.
DeMatteis (writer), Mike Zeck (pencils), John Beatty (inks), Mark
Gruenwald (editor)
Deathlok II#29 (November, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), John Hebert
(pencils), Richardson & Tim Tuohy (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Deathlok II#31-33 (January-March, 1994) - Gregory Wright (writer),
Kevin Kobasic (pencils), Greg Adams (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Deathlok II#34 (April, 1994) - Gregory Wright (writer), Kevin Kobasic
& Anthony Williams (pencils), Greg Adams (inks), Tom Brevoort
(editor)
First Posted: 12/26/2002
Last updated: 06/29/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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