SIR
SIR
Real Name: Martha Paterson
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: Unrevealed;
Sir was on a sociopathic crusade
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Dr. Ashley Kafka, Norman Osborn;
formerly Doctor
Angst (Jonas Mueller)
Enemies: Daredevil (Matt
Murdock), Melinda Dennis, Doctor Angst (Jonas Mueller), Jeff O'Brien,
Mitch Roth, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Marsha and her
boyfriend/fiance/husband;
women and police officers, in general
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Ravencroft Institute, upstate New York;
formerly a brownstone in Manhattan, New York City,
New York;
formerly Madison, Wisconsin
First Appearance: Daredevil I#345 (October,
1995)
Powers/Abilities: Immensely strong (perhaps enhanced human), Sir was a savage warrior. Sir carried no weapons and did not demonstrate any specific skills, but was savage and relentless. Sir enjoyed matching strengths with other masculine figures and was fueled by an irrational hatred of women and desire to be masculine.
Height: Unrevealed; approximately 7' tall (Sir
towered over the 6' tall Daredevil, by at least a foot, if not more);
original height unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed; approximately 300 lbs.; original weight
unrevealed
Eyes: Light blue
Hair: Bald (or shaved, with no --or very thin, possibly drawn on -- eyebrows or facial hair);
original hair color unrevealed
History:
(Daredevil I#347 (fb) - BTS) - Martha was originally a gentle, decent
woman living in Madison, Wisconsin.
(Daredevil I#347 (fb) - BTS) - Martha was victimized and brutalized by "the male animal" her whole life.
(Daredevil I#347 (fb) - BTS) - Martha viewed policemen as hard and brutal and cold...everything she hated and yet aspired to be.
(Daredevil I#347 (fb) - BTS) - Martha was plagued by self-loathing of her own fears and weakness of the flesh.
(Daredevil I#347 (fb) - BTS) - Feeling she needed to become strong and powerful, Martha resolved that she needed to become the enemy in order to survive.
(Daredevil I#347 (fb) - BTS) - Sir came to consider the male spirit -- in all its primal, savage glory -- to be God, and to be anything less was to be flawed and weak and unworthy of life.
(Daredevil I#347 (fb) - BTS / Daredevil I#348 (fb) -
BTS / Spectacular Spider-Man II#253 (fb) - Seeking to become the
pinnacle of masculinity, Martha allowed the depraved psychogist Jonas
Mueller, who she dubbed "Doctor Angst," to mutate her, via hormones,
muscle grafts, and other unspecified treatments, transforming her into
a massive masculine figure and repressing her memories and altering her
behavior via chemicals.
In the end, however, Martha's "weakness" won in the
end; she panicked and ran before he was done with her. Before she
was...complete...(see comments).
(Daredevil I#348 (fb) - BTS) - Now 28 years old, Martha denied her past and adopted the masculine identity of "Sir."
(Daredevil I#347 (fb) - BTS) - Believing women an affront to God, Sir began murdering women.
(Daredevil I#345 (fb) - BTS) - Sir hurled Melinda
Dennis out of an apartment building (or hotel)'s window, telling her,
"Call me Sir," in the process.
(Daredevil I#345) - Sir watched as Melinda fell to
her death.
Soon after, Daredevil (in his bio-mimetic costume), who had recently gotten justice for Mrs. Bernstein,
investigated the room from which Melinda had been thrown. As Sir
approached, Daredevil sensed this and swung his Billy club, but Sir
caught the club, and then grabbed Daredevil by the face and shoved him
back towards the shattered window. Sir rushed forward and choked
Daredevil over the window edge, and a kick to the crotch from Daredevil
only drove Sir back to a standing position. Unphased by a trio of
punches to the face, Sir then knocked Daredevil out with a single punch
and left him behind.
(Daredevil I#345 (fb) - BTS) - Sir rushed out through
a dozen policemen, ran up to the roof, and then vanished from site.
(Daredevil I#345) - Back in a brownstone base, Sir knelt before a male statue, worshipping its maleness and primal virility. As Sir considered that women -- whom Sir considered to be gentle, frail, pathetic creatures -- were to be loathed and destroyed, Sir bellowed like an ape, danced like an Aboriginal warrior, dreamed -- with eyes open -- of blood and murder. However, consumed with self-loathing upon passing before a mirror, Sir shattered the mirror (receiving numerous shards of glass imbedded into the right arm in the process), then reaffirmed a hatred for women, vowing they would all pay a price for what they had done to Sir.
(Daredevil I#346 (fb) - BTS) - Sir fatally strangled a woman named Marsha in her apartment. Afterward, torn by various emotions, Sir knelt over Marsha, studying her face's gentle contours, stroking her soft skin, and looking into her dead eyes in search of answers to questions Sir could not articulate.
(Daredevil I#346) - Overcome by frustration and rage, Sir spat upon Marsha's corpse's face, then began tearing apart her clothes from within her closet. When her husband or boyfriend came home, Sir decided that this man was an effete mockery of manhood and swiftly snapped his neck. Seeking a truly masculine figure, Sir's attention was drawn to a newspaper article on Daredevil. Sir wished (and considered a need) to be like Daredevil ("manhood in its muscled prime"), and ultimately decided the way to be like him would be to overcome, consume, absorb, and destroy him.
(Daredevil I#346 - BTS) - Later, as Daredevil (back in his red costume after his biomimetic costume had been destroyed) sought out a being he believed to be impersonating him (ultimately, this turned out to be Daredevil himself, somewhat deranged by his recent identity crises), Sir stalked Daredevil for half an hour.
(Daredevil I#346) - Having sensed another stalker,
Daredevil swung up to approach the giant he had battled earlier, and
Sir dove from the rooftop, tackling Daredevil in mid-swing, snapping
his Billy club cord. Seconds before they crashed through a glass
rooftop well below, Sir made a formal introduction. While Daredevil
flipped away after hitting the glass and safely landed, Sir smashed
into and shattered a large wooden box within the apparent warehouse;
nonetheless, Sir swiftly recovered, noting the pleasure of fighting man
against man. Daredevil angrily responded that this was no game and
peppered Sir with a series of facial and abdominal kicks and punches,
after which Sir caught Daredevil's left fist. Noting that "there is
something wrong with me...some flaw I can't quite understand" Sir
apparently broke Daredevil's wrist, then battered Daredevil to the
ground with a series of facial punches while explaining that Daredevil
was going to provide healing for Sir's problems with his energy; Sir
acknowledged worshipping Daredevil's power and "towering maleness," but
told his fallen idol of the intention to kill and absorb him with the
goal of achieving perfection.
Daredevil briefly scanned his foe and learned Sir's
true nature in the seconds before Sir knocked Daredevil out with a kick
to the head, stripped his costume, and then kicked an immense stack of
wooden crates atop the fallen hero. In the process of stripping the
costume, Sir determined the mask was the source of the sought power and
ignored Murdock as a virtual non-entity.
(Daredevil I#347 (fb) - BTS) - Having lost a few incisors in the previous struggle, Sir donned Daredevil's red costume, which tore in several parts around Sir's massive frame.
(Daredevil I#347) - Wearing Daredevil's costume made Sir imagine a flood of maleness, of scarlet psychic energy (the essence of all the Daredevil was) pouring into him. Seeking to absorb more masculine energy to neutralize Sir's own weakness, Sir stood in the path of a police car, then leapt onto the hood, smashed the windshield, and tore out Jeff O'Brien despite the efforts of his partner, Mitch Roth. As Roth apparently perished when the police car crashed into a lamp post, Sir apparently snapped O'Brien's neck. While doing this, Sir believed the policemen's maleness trickled, like blood, into his cells; Sir planned to kill as many policemen as possible to add to the energies already consumed.
Later, after leaping from rooftop
to rooftop, Sir, still wearing Daredevil's red costume smashed through
the door of a police station and assaulted the male and female officers
present. Momentarily plagued by a pre-transformation self-image, Sir
denied the past, claiming to be blood and manhood, fire and rage.
Daredevil, having donned an old
brown and yellow costume and uncertain of his own identity, caught up
with Sir at the police station. Assuming this to be another person, Sir
was pleased with the thought of destroying this new foe, stripping away
his suit, and claiming his power as well; another chance to destroy the
past, and bury the disgrace and humiliation. The two fought savagely,
but as Daredevil gained the upper hand, a squad of policemen arrived,
assuming the red-Daredevil costume-wearer to be the real deal. As one
of the previously beaten officers tried to explain the yellow-Daredevil
costume-wearer to be the one trying to help, Sir took advantage of the
distraction and dove into and began battering the officers. Leaping on
Sir's back, Daredevil explained that he knew Sir's dirty little secret.
Enraged, Sir denied that this was possible and fled the building. As
Daredevil continued to press the issue and ask Sir how and why it had
happened, Sir lost the will to fight and collapsed after a few punches.
Sir tried to block out Daredevil's words before realizing and accepting
that she was actually a woman, after which she tried to remember how it
had all happened.
As she recalled her history and transformation, Sir
was taken away by the police.
(Daredevil I#348) - At the Ravencroft Institute, Dr. Ashley Kafka had Sir tested, revealing her true identity as Martha Paterson. She confronted Sir with the truth, calling her by her real name, but Sir reacted violently, pounding on the walls of the cells and demanding to be called Sir.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#253) - Months later, Doctor Angst came to Ravencroft to see Sir. Now working for Norman Osborn, Angst invited Sir to come work for him, in return for finishing what he had begun. Before he could do so, though, he asked Sir to exterminate an insect for him: Spider-Man!
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#254 (fb) ) - Released from Ravencroft, Sir dropped from a helicopter into Norman's Daily Bugle office, pretending to threaten him and his grandson, Normie, to lure in Spider-Man. After he took out Osborn's bodyguards, Spider-Man swung in and tackled Sir out the window. Sir grabbed on to the helicopter's hanging ladder; Spider-Man followed, and the two battled. Sir weathered several blows from Spider-Man and reached the top of the ladder, only for Spider-Man to encase Sir in webbing...at which point two electrified tentacles snagged and stunned Spider-Man. Sir took the unconscious wall-crawler back to Dr. Angst's lair.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#254) - Sir stood by as Dr. Angst probed Spider-Man's mind, submitting him to mental torture. His ordeal brought back memories of Sir's own experiences at the hands of Mueller, as well as a feeling of compassion...but Sir regarded such feelings as a weakness. Eventually, Spider-Man broke free of his restraints and began to attack Sir; Sir was momentarily distracted when Mueller mentioned "childhood trauma," and allowed Spider-Man to land a few blows, but Sir soon managed to hold him still while Angst sedated him. Spider-Man fought the sedative off quickly and grabbed Dr. Angst. Angst screamed at Sir for help, but Sir saw him for what he truly was: weak. Sir left Angst to Spider-Man, and left; later, Sir watched as Angst (whose life Spider-Man had spared) departed with Osborn. Unlike Spider-Man, however, Sir had no code against killing...
Comments: Created by J.M. DeMatteis, Ron Wagner, and Bill Reinhold
It is implied that Sir was going to hunt down and kill Dr. Angst; he made a couple subsequent appearances in the Spider-books, but neither Angst nor Sir has been seen since 1998, so it's possible Sir succeeded.
Sir was noted to have had muscle grafts, but sufficient hormone therapy can radically alter men or women's physiques; probably not to Sir's degree, but Sir had enlarged muscles, not extra muscles. We don't know how tall Martha was before, but I'd imagine the transformations made her much taller...at least 16-20" taller, and changing the skeletal structure is much more into the realm of comic book sci-fi.
It wasn't specified, but "before being complete" presumably means before she could be given male genitalia (an "addadictomy").
Pronouns are important to get right, and given the unusual nature of Sir, we've just elected to do without them.
On a related note, it's somewhat unfortunate that, given the paucity of transgender characters in comics, that one of the few is a raving lunatic like Sir. That said, DeMatteis is one of the more emotionally-attuned writers in comics, and it's entirely possible that he had more in mind for the character before he got caught up in a multitude of Spider-crossovers and eventually left.
Sub-profiles by Chadman.
Profile by Snood and Minor Irritant.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Sir should be distinguished from:
(Daredevil I#344 (fb) - BTS) - When thugs Mrs. Bernstein of forty dollars, Daredevil stopped the villains and retrieved her money.
--[Daredevil I#344 (fb)]
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(Daredevil I#345) - Sir, a massively strong man who was obsessed with masculinity and hated women, savagely killed Melinda Dennis, throwing her from a window. She fell to her death, and Daredevil found her body on top of a car. --Daredevil I345 |
|
|
(Daredevil I#346) - Sir, a massively strong man who was obsessed with masculinity and hated women, killed Marsha in her own apartment. When Marsha's friend walked in and saw her dead, Sir killed him as well. --Daredevil I#345 |
|
(Daredevil I#347) - Police officer partners Mitch Roth and Jeff O'Brien were both family men who worked hard at their jobs on the streets of New York City. They were on patrol when they were savagely attacked by Sir, a massively strong man who was obsessed with masculinity and hated women, who was wearing a Daredevil costume. Sir smashed through the windshield and grabbed O'Brien, soon breaking his neck, as Roth died from the car crash. --Daredevil I#347 |
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images: (without ads)
Daredevil I#345, p8, pan1-4 (large Sir vs. Daredevil with 3
smaller panels included, main)
Daredevil I#345, p18, pan3 (glasses off, head shot)
Daredevil I#345, p9, pan5 (full body Sir being punched by Daredevil)
Daredevil I#345, p17, pan1-2 (brownstone and kneeling by statue within)
Daredevil I#347, p2-3 (Sir in Daredevil costume)
Daredevil I#347, p18, pan3 (Sir's face; tears in the rain)
Daredevil I#345, p5, pan4 (Melinda Dennis)
Daredevil I#346, p4, pan2 (Marsha)
Daredevil I#347, p1, pan2 (Mitch Roth & Jeff O'Brien)
Appearances:
Daredevil I#345-346 (October-November, 1995) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer),
Ron Wagner (penciler), Bill Reinhold (inker), James Felder (editor)
Daredevil I#347 (December, 1995) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Ron Wagner
(penciler), Bill Reinhold & R. McCain (inkers), James Felder
(editor)
Daredevil I#348 (January, 1996) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Cary Nord
(pencils), Bill Reinhold (inks), James Felder (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#253 (January, 1998) - J.M. DeMatteis
(writer), Luke Ross
(pencils), Dan Green (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#254 (February, 1998) - J.M. DeMatteis
(story), Tom DeFalco (script), Luke Ross
(pencils), Dan Green (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
First Posted: 06/17/14
Last updated: 08/07/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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