KEARSON DEWITT

Real Name: Kearson Dewitt

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Unrevealed

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: A.I.M., Atkins, Dr. Calvin, Cartwright, Cassandra, Professor Clemens, Desmond Marrs, Phoebe Marrs, Matheson, Professor Power, Dr. Samuelson, Simpson

Enemies: Avengers (Hawkeye, Living Lightning, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter), U.S. Agent, Wonder Man), Darkhawk, Iron Man (Stark), Jim Rhodes, Savage Steel

Known Relatives: Father (name unrevealed)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed

First Appearance: Iron Man I#258 (July, 1990)

Powers/Abilities: Dewitt controlled a massive suit of armor that he claimed was "virtually indestructible."  While none of its arsenal was clearly revealed, the armor seemed to have laser cannons, electric blasts, boot jets, and the ability to put a lot of power behind a swung punch.  Dewitt later directed similar suits of armor via remote control.  Before his seeming death, Dewitt temporarily had the ability to control a vast arsenal via a neural link.

(Iron Man I#260 (fb) - BTS) - When Tony Stark was paralyzed after being shot in the spine by Kathy Dare, Dewitt developed an idea to control Stark's nervous system via an experimental surgery that would implant a chip in Stark's spine.  The chip would grant Stark the ability to walk, but would allow Dewitt, in time, to control Stark's every movement.  Dewitt approached Desmond and Phoebe Marrs, billionaire heads of Marrs Corporation, and they agreed to fund the project.

(Iron Man I#260 (fb) - BTS) - Dewitt set up instrumentation that would transmit and monitor the activity of the chip, called a "bio-replicant synapse override system."  The system required human monitors to run it, so Dewitt hired a staff of several to do so.

(Iron Man I#256 - BTS) - Stark began feeling the effects of the chip as he noticed an odd pain in his lower back.

(Iron Man I#258) - Dewitt, with his scientists, measured their results in Stark's body, and Professor Clemens regretted that they had no way to see through Stark's eyes.  Dewitt contented himself with the power they did have.

(Iron Man I#259) - Dewitt controlled Stark's nervous system, causing Stark to sleep for three days while Dewitt's agent, Cassandra, watched over Stark.  Stark woke up in San Francisco disoriented.  Cassandra called to report this to Dewitt.

(Iron Man I#260) - Dewitt chided Dr. Calvin for recriminating about having no visual contact once again.  Calvin noted that Stark was exerting a strong amount of physical activity (as Iron Man, though they did not know this).  When Desmond and Phoebe Marrs arrived, Desmond demanded to see physical evidence of the project and hoped that by taking control of Stark while he was exerting so much, they might harm him. 

(Iron Man I#261) - After Desmond learned that Stark was successfully being controlled, he reasserted his power over Dewitt, reminding him who was in charge (at one time bending Phoebe's wrist to get her to stand away).  After Phoebe reminded Desmond what a worthy opponent Stark was, Desmond agreed to let Kearson continue running the project and departed.  Kearson tried to flirt with Phoebe, but she quickly departed, angering him.

(Iron Man I#262) - In order to see Stark, Dewitt hired Stark's security man, Cartwright, to pipe security footage of Stark over to him.  While viewing Stark, his team took over Stark's body and caused Stark to slowly began walking through his plant until Jim Rhodes tried to stop him.  Dewitt ordered his men to kill Rhodes, through Stark, and Stark began fighting with Rhodes involuntarily.  Rhodes got in a lucky punch and knocked Stark unconscious, causing Dewitt's men to lose control.  Rhodes then hid Stark and strapped him down so that Dewitt could not find Stark on the cameras to cause him to be able to watch where Stark was moving.  Dewitt grew angry at his aides, including Samuelson and Atkins. They soon reported that Stark was moving, somehow defying the control chip.  (Stark was using his Iron Man armor to block their signal).

(Iron Man I#263) - After three hours, Dewitt's aides were still not able to reason how Stark was defying their control.  Dewitt threatened his aides, and reminded them of what the Marrs would do to them as well.  Aside from briefly regaining control over Stark's right arm, they had no success.

(Iron Man I#264) - When Stark, still defying their control, appeared on television, Dewitt was furious until Matheson pointed out it may be a trick.  Dewitt ordered his aides, including Simpson, back to their stations. 

(Iron Man I#265) - Dewitt viewed footage of Iron Man on television, wondering what Stark's game plan was.  He ordered his men to restore control of Stark's nervous system to Stark, which caused Stark to experience terrible pain due to neuro-feedback.  Rhodes managed to rein Stark (as Iron Man) in while a Marrs Corporation helicopter watched.  Stark finally pieced together Marrs Corp's involvement in his troubles and stormed Dewitt's headquarters as Iron Man, scattering Dewitt's men and destroying his equipment.  Dewitt armored up and attacked Iron Man with a blast.  Realizing at some point that Stark was Iron Man, Dewitt again seized control of Stark's nervous system and imposed another violent neuro-feedback shock on Stark. 

(Iron Man I#266) - Taunting Iron Man, Dewitt battered him around the building until Iron Man took off and attacked Dewitt in the sky.  Dewitt was shocked by Iron Man's fortitude as they battled while crashing through things on both the ground and in the air, and Dewitt damaged Iron Man's boot jets.  Iron Man blinded Dewitt, then ripped off his jet pack, causing them both to crash, unable to fly.  They continued battling, both weakening until Jim Rhodes joined in another Iron Man suit.  With two Iron Mans against him, Dewitt was quickly defeated.  They removed his helmet, then a building collapsed on Dewitt, burying him under several tons of rubble.

(Iron Man Annual I#13 (fb) - BTS) - Dewitt somehow survived the ordeal, though he was confined to a wheelchair.  He formed a partnership with Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) and Professor Power and began trading and selling armor, including Force Ten and Iron Monger, plus some Stark designs.

(Darkhawk Annual I#1 - BTS) - Stark and Rhodes investigated the armor trading and allied with Darkhawk.  They found out about Power's involvement from Savage Steel. 

(Avengers West Coast Annual I#7 - BTS) - Iron Man recruited the Avengers (Hawkeye, Living Lightning, Scarlet Witch, Spider-woman, USAgent, Wonder Man) and split them into two groups, one to defend Stark industries and one to attack Power and A.I.M. 

(Iron Man Annual I#13) - Iron Man infiltrated the A.I.M. headquarters and Dewitt attacked Stark with a remote-controlled version of Dewitt's former armor.  When Stark defeated that one, Dewitt sent two more against him, revealing his motives for hating Stark while the battle went on.  Stark destroyed the other armors with a plasma cannon and Dewitt, cybernetically connected to the machines, ignored the powerful neural feedback he was receiving and tried to superimpose his entire will over the station's entire arsenal.  He temporarily succeeded, but found the feedback too much and caused the base to explode, seemingly dying in the blast.

Comments: Created by John Byrne, John Romita Jr., and Bob Wiacek.

While all of Dewitt's assistants (listed below in the sub-profiles) could be considered BTS in each of the Iron Man appearances, this profile makes no effort to determine which aid appeared where.  Listed in the sub-profiles are only those appearances in which the aides were named directly.

Look at Samuelson and Simpson and tell me they weren't meant to be the same guy. - Madison
    Yeah, I'd contend that Samuelson was just misnamed in his second appearance.

Profile by Chadman.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Kearson Dewitt has no known connections to

• any character not mentioned in this profile.

Atkins

(Iron Man I#262) - Atkins worked on a project with Kearson Dewitt to control Tony Stark's nervous system via a chip implanted in Stark's spine.  While they had control over Stark's body, Jim Rhodes knocked Stark out an then took him into hiding.  Dewitt grew very angry, causing Atkins to wonder about Dewitt's sanity.

--Iron Man I#262

Dr. Calvin

(Iron Man I#260) - Working with Kearson Dewitt on a project to control Tony Stark's nervous system, Calvin was monitoring Stark's neural activity and was shocked by the amount of pressure Stark was exerting.  Dewitt quieted Calvin, explaining the project in different terms, and was interrupted by Desmond and Phoebe Marrs.

--Iron Man I#260

Cartwright

(Iron Man I#262) - A security guard at Stark's plant, Cartwright was offered a million dollars by Kearson Dewitt to monitor Tony Stark's progress and pipe security camera information to Dewitt.  He did so until Jim Rhodes, who'd run Cartwright's security check upon hire, found him and knocked Cartwright unconscious for his betrayal.  He left Cartwright handcuffed in his station.

--Iron Man I#262

Cassandra

(Iron Man I#259) - Cassandra was assigned by Kearson Dewitt to watch over Tony Stark during a time when Dewitt was controlling Stark's nervous system.  When Stark woke up disoriented and with no memory of the previous in a hotel room in San Francisco, Cassandra brought him breakfast, flirted with him, then departed, making Stark wonder who she was and what he'd done with her.  Cassandra reported in to Dewitt, regretting that she'd only got to watch Stark sleep, and was promised a pay increase.

--Iron Man I#259

Professor Clemens

(Iron Man I#258) - Clemens, with Dewitt and other aides, measured the results in Stark's body thus far, and regretted not having a camera with which to see through Stark's eyes.

--Iron Man I#258

Matheson

(Iron Man I#264) - Matheson worked on a project with Kearson Dewitt to control Tony Stark's nervous system via a chip implanted in Stark's spine.  While Stark was somehow defying their asserted control, he appeared on television, and Dewitt grew angry with his aides until Matheson pointed out that the television image may be only a trick.

--Iron Man I#264

Dr. Samuelson

(Iron Man I#262) - Dr. Samuelson worked on a project with Kearson Dewitt to control Tony Stark's nervous system via a chip implanted in Stark's spine.  While they had control over Stark's body, Jim Rhodes knocked Stark out an then took him into hiding.  Samuelson reported to Dewitt that they had lost Stark, and Dewitt was furious.

--Iron Man I#262

Simpson

(Iron Man I#264) - Simpson worked on a project with Kearson Dewitt to control Tony Stark's nervous system via a chip implanted in Stark's spine.  While Stark was somehow defying their asserted control, Dewitt began losing his cool, causing Simpson to wonder if the money they were making was worth it.

--Iron Man I#264

images: (without ads)
Iron Man I#265, p28, pan1
Iron Man I#258, p15, pan3
(Atkins) Iron Man I#262, p29, pan8
(Cartwright) Iron Man I#262, p16, pan1
(Cassandra) Iron Man I#259, p18, pan5
(Clemens) Iron Man I#258, p15, pan2
(Matheson) Iron Man I#264, p6, pan4
(Samuelson) Iron Man I#262, p29, pan8
(Simpson) Iron Man I#264, p8, pan3

Iron Man I#256 (May, 1990) - Bob Layton (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Harry Candelario (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
Iron Man I#258-266 (July, 1990-January, 1991)) - John Byrne (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
Darkhawk Annual I#1 (1992) - Danny Fingeroth (writer), Mike Manley (penciler/inker), Nelson Yomtov (editor)
Avengers West Coast Annual I#7 (1992) - Roy Thomas (writer), MC Wyman (penciler), Tom Dzon & John Tartaglione (inkers), Nelson Yomtov (editor)
Iron Man Annual I#13 (1992) - Len Kaminski (writer), Gene Colan (penciler), Al Williamson (inker), Nelson Yomtov (editor)

Last updated:10/05/07

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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