SIMON RYKERSIMON RYKER
Real Name: Captain Simon Ryker
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Inventor
Group Membership: U.S. Navy? Army?
Affiliations: Mr. Fantastic, Symbionic Man
Enemies: Dr. Doom, Namor the Sub Mariner, Mr. Fantastic
Known Relatives: Harlan Ryker (brother)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile, from the waters around Hydrobase in the Atlantic Ocean, to Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.
First Appearance: Super-Villain Team-Up#4 (February, 1976)
Powers/Abilities: Simon Ryker is a normal human, a brilliant inventor, skilled in robotics, engineering and computer science. He used a gun and a flying base named Mother-Ship.
History:
(Super-Villain Team-Up#4 (fb) - BTS) -
Dr. Simon Ryker was a dedicated militarist. He created a super-soldier cyborg
for the government, which was intended to be able to be employed in every war and to give the USA the
supremacy all over the world.
The cyborg, the Symbionic Man, was incomplete because it lacked life energy. Ryker asked Reed Richards to use
his computers to give the needed energy to the super-soldier, but Richards refused. So Ryker tried to find another source of energy. The Pentagon gave him a
laboratory on a ship of the U.S. Navy and he started his research of a source of
energy for his creation.
(Super-Villain Team-Up#4) - The ship arrived near Hydrobase,
where Namor the Sub-Mariner and Dr. Doom were fighting. When Dr. Doom smashed on
the ship, Simon Riker succeeded in siphoning the energy directly
from Dr. Doom's armor and gave life to the cyborg-soldier. He also shot at Dr.
Doom without any result. Dr. Doom spared his life and left him with the Symbionic Man
which soon started breathing.
(Marvel Spotlight I#27/4) - Ryker wanted the Sub-Mariner's power, too, for his Symbionic Man, so he took the Mother-Ship and found the Atlantean on Easter Island. When Namor, unaware of Ryker's presence, went away, the scientist released the Symbionic Man into the Ocean, watching him taking life thanks to its symbionic link with the creatures of the sea.
Ryker followed the Symbionic Man with the aid of its computers, and he also had them drive the Symbionic Man to its objective: Namor. From the monitors, Ryker assisted to the struggle between his creation and the Atlantean. At one point during the battle, Namor, enraged, threw a giant octopus out of the water. Though Namor's throw was random, the beast smashed on the Mother-Ship that, seriously damaged, fell in the Ocean. The Symbionic Man returned to Namor the part of life that he stole, and died.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Herb Trimpe, and Jim Mooney.
On Earth-7484, according
to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#3, Simon received severe
damage to his legs and spine after an altercation with their world's Dr. Doom.
His brother, Harlan, secretly gave him cybernetic replacements.
I'm guessing that comment was initially based on the mistaken
assumption that Ryker's crash was caused by Dr. Doom rather than Namor in Marvel
Spotlight I#27. However, this can be easily rectified by having Simon Ryker
having recovered from the crash, but being attacked and crippled by Doom or one
of his agents at a later date (Doesn't it seem odd that Doom would just let
Ryker go after he dared to assault him?). That would leave the point of
divergence at a later date, though what ever became of Earth-616's Simon Ryker
is unknown. Perhaps he, too, was built into a cyborg by Harlan, and he has yet
to reveal himself.
--Snood.
Ryker is named both Dr. and Captain, so I used the two titles indifferently.
Clarifications:
Simon Ryker is the Earth-616 counterpart of
The Mother-Ship has no known connections to
The Mother-Ship was a big, flying circular base. It contained a tube for the Symbionic Man as well as the necessary computers for driving and tracking the Symbionic Man's movements. It had two wide windows of plexy-steel for the observation of the outside. It probably had a certain degree of autonomy because it followed Namor from the sea around Hydrobase to Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Ryker used the Mother-Ship to follow Namor's movements till to Easter Island. Later, the Mother-Ship remained over the water surface, and-- thanks to unknown device--Ryker could watch the battle between the Symbionic Man and the Sub-Mariner.
When Sub-Mariner launched the giant octopus at great speed, it accidentally smashed into the Mother-Ship, that, seriously damaged, fell in the Ocean.
--Marvel Spotlight I#27/4
Images:
Marvel Spotlight I#27/4, page 7, panel 4 (Simon
Riker)
Super-Villain Team-Up#4, page 13, panel 1 (Ryker and
Doctor Doom)
Marvel Spotlight I#27/4, page 6, panel 1/2 (Mother-Ship)
Appearance:
Super-Villain Team-Up#4 (February, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Marvel Spotlight I#27 (April, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Mooney (artist), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Last updated: 04/13/05
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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