YANKEE CLIPPER
Real Name: Patrick "Pat" Carney
Identity/Class: Human technology user; citizen of the USA (1950s, pre-modern era and modern era)
Occupation: Adventurer, engineer;
former collegiate "All-American" athlete
Group Membership: Formerly Deep Freeze; First
Line (Black
Fox/Robert William Paine, Effigy/Velmax,
Kid
Justice/Timothy "Tim" Carney, Liberty
Girl/Beverly, Nightingale)
Affiliations: The Eternals (Ikaris and unconfirmed others), Hipster (Fred MacRae), Cassandra Locke, Monster Hunters (Ulysses Bloodstone, Doctor Druid/Anthony Ludgate, Namora/Aquaria Nautica Neptunia, Zawadi), NSA agent Mac Curry (Makkari), Pixie
Enemies: Blackjack, Chimera (Zuhn), Red Front, the Scythe, Fritz von Voltzmann (Karl von Horstbaden), Yellow Claw (Plan Chu)
Known Relatives: Mr. Justice (Tim Carney, brother, deceased), unidentified parents (deceased)
Aliases: "Yank" (shortened codename used by various people)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly First Line Headquarters, Colorado
Rockies, USA
First Appearance: (Mentioned) Marvel: The Lost Generation#12, (seen) Marvel: The Lost Generation#4 (November 2000)
Powers/Abilities: The Yankee Clipper possessed no innate superhuman abilities. A skilled acrobat, athlete and fighter with limited martial arts training, the Clipper operated at peak human efficiency.
His strength was enhanced considerably by a device he referred to as his power belt (actually a 22nd century time-travel device). The belt allowed him to lift roughly 1 ton. Among the belt's confirmed features are the ability to project its wearer through time or generate a force field capable of protecting several people from a large explosion. However, the Clipper lacked the knowledge to access the belt's full functionality, taking years to master even its most basic functions.
Initially, he was merely able to enhance his strength, but eventually learned how to make time-jumps, though he had very little active control over this. The Clipper is a dedicated, caring man who believes in loyalty, honoring promises, and the principles of truth, justice and the American way.
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 180 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
History:
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#1 (fb) - BTS) - Patrick Carney and his
younger brother Tim were born and raised in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Pat,
a natural athlete, became All-American while he was studying to become
an engineer. Some time after his graduation, Pat lost both his parents.
Before they died, they made Pat promise he'd always take care of Tim.
Eventually he (and presumably Tim)
left Nebraska when Pat got a job in the American south, working as an
engineer at a government facility called Deep Freeze--initially, all Pat
knew was that it studied the effects of extremely low temperatures on
living organisms.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#1 (fb)) - By 1955, after several months of working at the facility, Carney's credentials checked out and he was granted a high enough clearance level to learn the true purpose of Deep Freeze. Guided by his colleagues, Drs. St. Claire and Mooney, to a hidden part of the facility, Carney was shocked to see Captain America (William Burnside) and Bucky (Jack Monroe) in a state of cryogenic suspension. Mooney quickly explained these weren't the original crime-fighters but rather two mentally unstable replacements who were being kept in suspended animation until a cure could be found for their madness. This chance encounter with some of his generation's greatest heroes got Carney thinking the world still needed heroes. He even briefly entertained taking over as Captain America following Mooney's suggestion, but he decided against it, instead considering the codename "Yankee Clipper" now that Joe DiMaggio had retired.
Heading home that night in his car, Pat almost hit Cassandra Locke, the 22nd century historian from Earth-700 who happened to pop up on the road before him. Swerving to miss Locke, Carney wrecked his Mercedes-Benz. This left him without any transportation when it became clear Locke was severely injured (after being caught in the explosion of the Yellow Claw's base in 1961). Carney rushed her to a nearby hospital, only to be turned away by the resident physician who claimed that not only were they overcrowded, they also didn't take charity cases like treating "a negress," suggesting Carney take her to nearby St. Bart's instead. As Pat was carrying the now unconscious Locke outside, a girl from the waiting room raced after him and offered to let them borrow her car.
En route to St. Bart's, Locke woke up. Despite her massive burns, she forced Carney to pull over and listen to what she had to tell him. After he complied, Cassandra explained who she was, where and when she was coming from and the fact that back in her time, extraterrestrials were trying to subjugate the human race under the guise of a peace mission. She then handed him the recording devices containing the evidence that proved the aliens (Skrulls) had been meddling with mankind for centuries. Locke made Carney swear he'd help her ensure the data would survive until the the 22nd century. When Pat protested that there'd be no place on Earth safe enough for that long a time, Cassandra told him the only safe place would be the Moon. She then revealed to a shocked Carney that Americans would land on the Moon in 1969, making him promise he'd plant the devices on the lunar lander. While they continued their drive to St. Bart's, Cassandra told Patrick even more about his destiny as the first of a new generation of superheroes and a team he'd help start. Arriving at St. Bart's, Carney had considerable time to absorb what he'd just learned while Locke was being treated. However, her injuries proved too severe and she died, but not before telling the doctor treating her that she wanted Pat to have her belt, making sure the physician told him that it would help him with what he needed to do.
Over the next several months, Carney studied the belt to discover its functions. Almost by accident, he figured out it could help increase his strength. Creating a costume for himself and recalling the name Yankee Clipper had become available, he started fighting crime under his new alias.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#2 - BTS) - Some time later, Patrick met a young woman called Beverly. The two fell in love and, upon learning his secret identity, Beverly decided to join Carney in the field as the super-heroine Liberty Girl. Together, they shared various adventures, including a mission to the Caribbean where the Clipper (without Beverly) encountered the empathic healer who would become known as Nightingale.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#2) - Special agent Scott (secretly the stranded Skrull Velmax) sought out the Yankee Clipper, Liberty Girl and their fellow superhero the Black Fox to investigate a security breach at a Long Island research facility, where Velmax's crashed spacecraft was being studied. When they investigated the site, they ran into the Monster Hunters, initially mistaking them for enemies. After the confusion had been cleared up, the Monster Hunters explained they were there to look into the psychic emanations Dr. Druid had felt which might indicate the presence of a monster. Liberty Girl could barely believe her ears, mockingly asking just where these "big, bad monsters" were, when suddenly a giant monstrous creature burst out of the facility. Scott used the confusion to sneak inside, which was noticed by the Clipper, who secretly followed him. Convinced Scott wasn't telling them the whole story, the Clipper was proven right when he spotted the saucer. He soon noticed Scott taking on Zuhn (in his human guise) and his mercenaries Blackjack and the Scythe. Scott fired his gun at them, only to have the Scythe easily deflect the projectile with his blades. Not too long after that, the other heroes overcame the creature and joined the battle inside. By that time, Scott had been hit with a bio-moleculizer, courtesy of his former commander Zuhn (also in human guise). The moleculizer's energies destabilized Velmax's form, briefly revealing his Skrullian traits before he lapsed into a coma that defied medical analysis or treatment. When the Black Fox offered to try a healing technique he learned in the far east, the Yankee Clipper overruled him, claiming this was no time for mumbo-jumbo. Patrick then decided to bring in the Caribbean healer.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#2) - When Nightingale arrived, Liberty Girl was more than a little curious about the origins of this "Florence Nightingale" (thereby indirectly coining her codename). After the Clipper briefly explained how he met her, Nightingale went to work. She sensed an unnatural symmetry and great pain within her patient and proceeded to take it away, inadvertently causing Velmax to lose control over his shapeshifting. After Nightingale had restored him, Velmax acted as if the blast from the moleculizer had given him shapeshifting abilities, thereby covering his Skrullian origin. Inspired by the encounter, Velmax took on the name Effigy and joined the Clipper and the others in forming the First Line. Only the Black Fox refused, revealing to the Clipper that he was planning to retire and marry his girlfriend Miriam. Carney saw the ebullient Fox off, wishing him all the luck.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#3 - BTS) - Yankee Clipper and the other members of the First Line moved to their headquarters in the Colorado Rockies, from which they operated during the first few years of their existence. Sometime in the early-1960s, the group welcomed Kid Justice (Tim Carney) to the team in a semi-official capacity. Among their enemies were the (presumably) communist group Red Front and the super-villain Blackjack.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#3) - In the Spring of 1961, Liberty Girl and Nightingale were helping the Yankee Clipper test the limits of his endurance by standing on his back while he did a series of one armed pushups. Their session was interrupted by Kid Justice, who excitedly came into the First Line's training room to inform them President Kennedy had launched an initiative to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. Liberty Girl was incredibly excited about this prospect, unaware that it didn't sit well with the Yankee Clipper, who realized the predictions made by Cassandra Locke back in 1955 were about to come true. Pat took his kid-brother aside and made him swear that should anything happen to him, Tim would make sure a specific package would be on board Apollo 11 bound for the Moon. Somewhat perplexed by this unusual request, Tim nevertheless promised to honor his older brother's wishes.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#3 - BTS) - First Line member Black Fox was in San Francisco, where he was investigating the latest scheme of the Yellow Claw and his lackey Fritz von Voltzmann. When some the Claw's men happened to run into the super-powered beatnik hero Hipster and the Eternal Pixie, the Fox was annoyed at having so many loose cannons involved and decided to call in the First Line for backup.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#3) - The First Line met the
Black Fox in San Francisco's warehouse district, where he led them to
the lair of the Yellow Claw. As the team engaged the Claw's armored
forces, the Clipper used his enhanced strength to tear into his
opponents. The team was later joined by the Hipster, who had discovered
the Claw's hideout on his own.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#3 - BTS) - While the First Line fought
on, Nightingale noticed one of the soldiers was holding back. Sensing
something was wrong with him, the empath proceeded to cure the illness
she felt within him. Unaware she was actually treating the amnesiac
Namor the Sub-Mariner, whom the Claw had pressed into his service, she
undid the Claw's conditioning. Enraged at being used, and unseen by the
First Line except for Black Fox, the Sub-Mariner attacked Yellow Claw
directly. The master villain was forced to detonate a massive explosive
hidden underneath his lair.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#3) - Clipper, Hipster and the others
survived thanks to the sudden appearance of a force field, courtesy of
the Yank's power belt (inadvertently
activated by the time-traveling Cassandra Locke, who was present
during the events and severely injured by the explosion as she
continued to jump further into the past). In the aftermath, Black Fox told the Yankee Clipper he had
caught a glimpse of someone who looked a lot like the Sub-Mariner.
This greatly startled the Clipper, though he would not tell the Fox
why (Namor's presence confirmed to
him that this was the explosion that lethally wounded Locke back
when he met her in 1955)--he realized Locke was now on her
way to their first meeting and her unfortunate final fate.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#4) - On the morning of November 21st, 1963, Nightingale was puzzled by the unexplainable sensation that a great wrongness was about to occur, describing it to Liberty Girl as a premonition yet not a premonition. Discarding Liberty Girl's suggestion that one of the voices inside her head might have become precognitive, Nightingale explained it as "a resonance of something yet to happen, cloudy images and feelings of imminent danger and great loss." Concerned, Liberty Girl took the healer to the other First Liners, who were training in the gym. After the team had gathered, Nightingale told the First Line she felt something terrible was going to happen in the next 24 hours in Dallas, Texas.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#4 - BTS) - When wanted super-criminal Howler (Luke Garrow) accepted an offer from Texas industrialist Winget (secretly the Skrull Zuhn who also posed as the omnimorph Chimera) to come to Dallas for a mission, he was spotted by the FBI, who immediately alerted the First Line. The team correctly figured Winget and Howler might target the local Stark Industries facility that held a new type of guidance system, and planned to ambush them there.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#4) - Howler fell for the ambush at the Stark Industries plant and was attacked by the First Line. After the Yankee Clipper managed to knock him out, Zuhn showed himself in his Chimera form. Shapeshifting to avoid the heroes, he found Liberty Girl in his path--she somewhat over-confidently figured she could handle him. Chimera brutally lashed out with a swipe of his giant claw, wounding Liberty Girl beyond the point that Nightingale could help her, despite the healer's best efforts. Yankee Clipper didn't have too long to mourn his girlfriend's death when the time-traveling Cassandra Locke entered the scene; their two power belts (actually the same belt) violently interacted and sent the Clipper decades into his own future, leaving his contemporaries to wonder what had become of their leader.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#1 (fb) ) - Arriving in New York circa 1985, the Yankee Clipper was more than a little dazed and confused. Disgusted by Manhattan's polluted air, he was soon besieged by New Yorkers, who recognized him but wondered where he had been for the past twenty years. Shocked, the Clipper escaped them but soon realized he might well be two decades in future. He was then reminded of the loss of his fiancé Beverly by a street-walker when she replied "your loss" when he declined her offer. After purchasing a coat at a local thrift shop using some of the money he'd always kept tucked in his boot (all the while wondering about inflation), he started wandering the streets somewhat more anonymously. He learned that Ronald Reagan was now the President, instead of the B-level actor he was back in the day, Carney figured he was hallucinating and went to the nearest payphone to contact the First Line. Growing ever more despondent when the call wasn't answered, the Clipper was then alerted to the sounds of conflict.
Rushing to investigate, he was shocked to see his brother Tim, now calling himself Mr. Justice, riding on an armored motorcycle (complete with missiles) and chasing down a group of criminals in a battlewagon. Racing after them, the Clipper was even more shocked to find his always headstrong and brash younger sibling had fired his bike's rockets in the middle of a crowded area to disable the wagon. He then watched as Mr. Justice tore into his opponents, only stepping in to save his younger brother from being shot in the back.
Upon seeing the Yankee Clipper, a furious Mr. Justice initially figured someone was playing a cruel prank by dressing like him. When the Clipper unmasked to prove he really was Patrick Carney, Mr. Justice figured he was dealing with a Skrull. Pat, however, managed to convince Justice he was the genuine article by asking if he had carried out his orders from 1961 to hide a package on the Apollo 11 lander. Overjoyed to see his brother, Justice first hugged the Clipper before flying into a violent rage and assaulting him. Calling Pat a miserable, low down deserter for leaving them all those years, Mr. Justice eventually was overcome by his own emotions and broke down crying. Sobbing, Tim told Pat he'd tried so hard to fill his shoes, to be like him, but that he was never good enough. Carney comforted his sibling, reminding him he'd always had the advantage of the power belt.
Shortly afterwards, Mr. Justice took the Clipper to see Robert Paine (the Black Fox) to discuss what had happened to them. Seeing Bob, always just a few short years ahead of him, now as an old man, really startled Carney. After explaining to his brother and the Fox the power belt also had the ability to transport people through time, he immediately dismissed Justice's suggestion to send him back to 1963--Pat clarified that would not be possible or desirable. For one, he didn't know how to operate the belt, nor could he predict how going back would alter history. Claiming that any change would be an improvement, Mr. Justice tried to convince his brother to go back. Paine interjected, reminding them of Nightingale's warning after he'd vanished: "There's no turning back... lest even more lives be lost." Carney then tried to get the Yankee Clipper to make a comeback, figuring it might bring the First Line back to its former glory (by then, the team had been mostly working underground after President Nixon broke them up in 1973). The Clipper dismissed that idea as well, claiming he was nowhere near ready to do that. Instead, he opted to go to their parents' cabin in the woods to get comfortable with the idea of being in the future. Mr. Justice watched his brother go off, convinced he was going to be the loneliest man alive. The Black Fox assured Tim that his brother wouldn't be alone, for he had contacted some old friends.
Shortly after leaving Paine's apartment, Carney was met by the Eternal Pixie, who introduced herself and took him to stay with her fellow Eternals to make sure he could properly adjust to his new status quo.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#1 - BTS) - Carney continued to study the power belt, soon realizing the forced jump damaged something critical in the belt's chronal element. It took him a year to figure out how to jump ahead; when he did, his time-jump took him at least 15 years into the future, well after the First Line's final battle against the invading Skrulls. Reconnecting with Pixie and learning that everyone else he knew was dead and gone, he once again tried to get accustomed to this new era.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#1) - Shortly after four Skrulls had failed to discredit the newly-founded Fantastic Four (@ Fantastic Four I#2), Patrick Carney was having lunch with the Eternals Ikaris and Pixie. When Carney admitted to feeling frustrated the papers contained no reference to the fact the alleged shapeshifters were aliens, let alone Skrulls, it took his two Eternal companions to put matters in perspective. Ikaris explained that the authorities would not allow any mention of the Skrulls to the media. Pixie joined in, venting about the fact J. Jonah Jameson's editorial in the Daily Bugle indirectly slammed the First Line, referring to the Fantastic Four as yet another example of how superheroes always let people down. Furious about being called quitters, Pixie wondered if the Yankee Clipper shouldn't make a comeback now that the FF had been exonerated. Carney dismissed the idea, claiming it wasn't his time. However, he did express a hope that Cassandra's legacy hidden on the Apollo lander would get to the people she wanted to. Pixie defiantly replied they'd simply see to it that it did, claiming that she didn't care if it took 200 years.
Comments: Created by Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks).
You have to hand it to Stern and Byrne for the masterful way they constructed the Marvel: The Lost Generation limited series. The Yankee Clipper was in many ways the lynchpin of the entire First Line, his presence and legacy influencing much of what happened to the heroes throughout the decades... And he only showed up during the final four months of the series. There's just one minor continuity error I can't explain away: Everyone Cassandra Locke encountered would immediately forget about her or anything she said as a result of a counter-wave effect from the 22nd century. So how did the Clipper remember Locke when he encountered her in 1955? Could an unrevealed ability of the tachyon belt Cassandra gave the Clipper provide an immunity to the wave's effects?
The Clipper, unlike most of his fellow
First Liners, survived into the modern era. He's still out there, time
belt in hand, just waiting for the right creative team to return him to
active duty. And with the Clipper back in action, can the First Line be
that far behind? After all, several members of the old team are still
around. Yeti
survived the Skrull invasion, so did Pixie and Makkari... The elusive Dr. Mime
is probably available as well, and considering their durable nature,
it's not unthinkable Morph
and Firefall
lived to tell the tale of the armada's destruction as well. Add to that
one of Flatiron's
three sons assuming their father's iron mantle and you have a new First
Line raring to go. And don't forget about Frank!--Snood
Heck, with the Clipper's time belt still working,
what could be easier than to have him pop into the past and bring back
some of his old teammates? Or maybe the time belt gets stolen by someone
intent on clearing the First Line's name, who instead brings several
members from the past to testify on their behalf?
If Bendis can yank the original X-Men to the present
for heaven knows how long, surely the time continuum won't crack in two
if Positron,
Walkabout
and Reflex
show up in the modern era?
--The current writers can say whatever they want, but I think the
X-Men being pulled into the present diverged their reality from -616.
That's how these events typically end up, but I suppose we'll see...
Yankee Clipper's place of birth (Scottsbluff, Nebraska) and the fact both his parents are deceased were revealed in his OHOTMU entry--Yankee Clipper received a profile in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z#13 (2008).
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Yankee Clipper should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
Marvel The Lost Generation#1, p12, pan1 (main image)
Marvel The Lost Generation#1, p10, pan3 (in 1955)
Marvel The Lost Generation#1, p21, pan2 (studies time belt)
Marvel The Lost Generation#3, p22, pan2 (unknown protective field)
Marvel The Lost Generation#3, p23, pan6 (closeup)
Marvel The Lost Generation#4, p21, pan4 (meets Cassandra Locke)
Marvel The Lost Generation#1, p15, pan5 (sees Ronald Reagan)
Appearances:
Marvel: The Lost Generation#4
(November 2000) - Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Al
Milgrom (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Marvel: The Lost Generation#3 (December
2000) - Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks),
Ralph Macchio (editor)
Marvel: The Lost Generation#2 (January 2001) - Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Al
Milgrom (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Marvel: The Lost Generation#1 (February 2001) - Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Al
Milgrom (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
First Posted: 03/22/2014
Last updated: 05/11/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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