GRONK

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Sub-Species of humanity (Deviant or Inhuman)

Occupation: Bodyguard and servant of Maelstrom

Group Membership: Maelstrom's Minions

Affiliations: Deathurge, Maelstrom, Weird Sisters

Enemies: Avengers, Eternals of Earth, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider (Daniel Ketch/Noble Kale), Inhumans, Karkas, Moondragon, Quasar, Ransak the Reject, Donald and Deborah Ritter, Sersi, Stingray, Yrdisis

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Impersonated the Thing

Base of Operations: Mobile with Maelstrom

First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One I#71 (January, 1981)

Powers/Abilities: Gronk possesses superhuman strength (class 25), and can secrete a chemical from his skin which allows him to adhere to any surface. Gronk formerly possessed a near-immortality thanks to Maelstrom transferring his mind into a new clone body whenever he died, but Gronk's last known clone was accidentally destroyed.

Height: 6'
Weight: 425 lbs.
Eyes: Yellow
Hair: None

History: (Marvel Two-In-One I#71) - Gronk was dispatched with the rest of Maelstrom's minions to obtain a sample of the Anti-terrigen Compound from Hydro-Base. Although they succeeded in stealing it, they were confronted by the Thing, Stingray, Karnak and Gorgon on their way back to the ocean. Gronk fought the Thing, and briefly incapacitated him by sticking his fist to his chest, but the Thing crushed his chest with his fist, forcing him to let go, then knocked him unconscious.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#72) - Gronk was held on Hydro-Base by Mr. Fantastic, but was slain by Deathurge, sent by Maelstrom to eliminate him for his failure. Later, Maelstrom activated a clone of Gronk to oppose the Thing, Gorgon and Karnak when they invaded his laboratory. Gronk was seemingly killed when Gorgon destroyed the laboratory, but his spare bodies survived.

(Avengers I#250) - Gronk was awakened in a new body with the other minions, and Maelstrom charged them to assist him in his next scheme, to halt the Earth's rotation. When the Avengers invaded Maelstrom's base, Gronk fought Hercules, but was defeated. After Maelstrom was seemingly slain by the Avengers by feeding him more power than he could contain, Gronk discovered that his spare clone had been destroyed in the battle, and he was forced to surrender to the Avengers with the other minions.

(Quasar#22) - Gronk guarded Moondragon, Kayla Ballantine and Kenjiro Tanaka, friends of Quasar whom Maelstrom had captured.

(Quasar#25) - Gronk joined the other minions in attacking Sersi and Moondragon, but with a wave of her hand, Sersi turned Gronk into a pig.

(Fantastic Four Unlimited#10) - After Maelstrom seemingly died battling Quasar, Gronk aided the other minions and Maelstrom's lovers, the Weird Sisters, in gathering Deviants in order to absorb their kinetic energies in an attempt to revive Maelstrom. Disguised as the Thing, Gronk aided the minions in capturing Karkas and Ransak from Olympia, battling the Eternals in the process. They managed to escape, and placed the Deviants into the device which would absorb their energies.

Gronk then joined the minions and Weird Sisters in capturing Donald and Deborah Ritter, even though they had to fight their way past the Fantastic Four and the Eternals. Although they succeeded in reviving Maelstrom, Maelstrom chose to reject the energies in order to spare the life of his son, Ransak, and Gronk was defeated by the Thing.

(New Warriors V#7 (fb) - BTS) - Gronk, Helio and Phobius somehow ended up in outer space.

(New Warriors V#7) - The trio returned to Earth and their Celestial energy signatures were noticed by Jake Waffles, Speedball and Water Snake in the New Warriors' HQ in Mount Wundagore. They stopped monitoring the signatures when Justice called them away. After arriving on Earth Phobius vowed they would now prepare for their master's return.

(New Warriors V#8) - The three minions floated near the New Warriors' HQ at Mount Wundagore and observed it.

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Ron Wilson and Gene Day.

Although Gronk's appearance and powers could fit either an Inhuman or Deviant, my thinking is that he's a Deviant, since the other two minions are most likely Inhumans, and at least one of Maelstrom's Minions must have been a Deviant. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#6 identified all of the minions as humans, but later editions left their genetic origins unrevealed.

Quoth Karkas in Fantastic Four Unlimited#10: "Is that a name, or a stomach disorder?"

The master mentioned in New Warriors obviously was meant to be Maelstrom. It became a dangling polt when the series was cancelled with #12.

New Warriors update by Markus Raymond.

Profile by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Gronk should not be confused with:

• Gronk, pocket dimension, cosmic landfill, @ Marvel Super-Heroes III#12
• Groonk, Grinchy fellow who stole Christmas, @ Thor I#444

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters