--Marvel Comics Presents#82/3
CARL ROWEN
Real Name: Carl Rowen
Identity/Class: normal human
Occupation: hotel chain owner
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Iron Man (Tony Stark), Mike Rowen
Enemies: Ancient Hawaiian Chief, Kahuna High Priests, natives of Kauai
Known Relatives: Mike Rowen (son)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: mobile, including Kauai, Hawaii
First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents I#82/3 (1991)
Powers/Abilities: None. He was a smart business man who didn't give too much about tradition and history.
History:(Marvel Comics Presents I#82/3 (fb) - BTS) - Years ago Carl went to school with Tony Stark. Later Stark helped Carl finance his first hotel. Over the years he continued his business relationship with Stark by using Stark equipment for building hotels. One day Carl bought land on Kauai. The land and permits cost him twelve million dollars and he planned to build a huge plaza. The public didn't like Carl's plan because sacred burial caves were beneath his land. Carl didn't care and brought in Stark's equipment to get the project started, but the machines stopped working as soon as they came on the construction site.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#82/3) - Carl called Tony to come to Kauai. When Tony arrived he saved Carl from a collapsing crane. Carl explained him everything and Tony couldn't understand why the machines weren't working. While Carl went back to his sick son Mike, Tony was nearly squashed by a truck. In Carl's condo Tony learned about the protests and the burial grounds in the caves beneath. Carl even showed him a skull his son had found the at the construction site. The next day Carl got a batch of new problems. Locals arrived with TV to protests against him tearing up sacred burial ground and his plan for a twenty store building was rejected because a law on Kauai didn't allow buildings higher than a palm tree. Tony released Carl from his entire problems by buying the land for thirteen million dollars from Carl who thought that Tony was crazy because he wanted to give the land back to the people and maybe build a cultural museum on it.
Comments: Created by Bill Mumy & Steve Leialoha
In one panel the last name was spelled Rowan. The second time (see the first picture) it was spelled Rowen. I took the second version because a model by Rowen himself is probably more accurate than a word balloon by somebody else.
It wasn't said, but Mike probably got sick because he took the ancient chief's skull. Mike got well again after the skull had returned to the sacred burial cave. Proof enough for me!
Iron Man didn't know if the Kahuna High Priests were just present on the Astral Plane or if they were really present in the cave. IMHO they were real because else Iron Man would've drowned because his systems were shut down and he couldn't even seal his armor anymore (that's the way it was said in the story). The High Priests were probably also responsible for the magical block that prevented Stark's machines from working.
Profile by Markus Raymond
CLARIFICATIONS:
Carl & Mike Rowen have no known connection to:
Ancient Kahuna Chief has no known connection to:
Kahuna High Priests have no known connection to:
He was Carl Rowen's son and went with him to Kauai. One day he found a skull at his father's construction site and got sick the next day. Doctor thought that he probably caught the flu. The next day Mike was well again and went surfing. --Marvel Comics Presents#82/3
Hundred years ago he was a Hawaiian chief. After his death his body was brought into the caves. There he stayed several hundred years and his spirit saw the changes on the land. One day his skull was found by Mike Rowen and his father kept it in his condo. At night the skull tried to return and when Tony Stark opened the door it got the chance to do so. Stark followed the chief's skull as Iron Man to Carl's construction site. The skull flew into the caves beneath it. There Kahuna High Priests reunited it with his body. Stark who crashed with his Iron Man armor into the sea was brought to the chief and his Mana loa (highest ethereal life force) awakened in the chief's bones. The chief showed Tony ancient Hawaiian legends and all the things that had happened since the white men came to Hawaii. A final threat by the chief brought Tony to the decision that he had to buy the land from Carl to prevent the hotel's building.
--Marvel Comics Presents I#82/3
Their magic sought to heal the land as well as the men. They brought Iron Man into the sacred burial cave below Carl Rowen's construction site. There they reunited the ancient chief's skull with his body and performed a magic ritual which reawakened the chief's skeleton. Then they connected Iron Man's highest ethereal life force with the ancient chief so that the chief could show Iron Man the island's story.
--Marvel Comics Presents I#82/3
images:
Marvel Comics Presents I#82, p24, pan5 (main)
Appearances:
Marvel Comics Presents I#82 (1991) - Bill Mumy (writer), Steve Leialoha (artist), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Last updated: 01/23/05
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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