EARTH-MOVER
Real Name: Maximillian Stone
Identity/Class: Human/Sentient Magma hybrid
Occupation: Formerly Stark Enterprises' Project Director of Acheron Mountain Geothermal Research Facility
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Stark Enterprises
Enemies: Iron Man (Tony Stark), Ultimo
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Acheron Mountain Geothermal Research Facility
First Appearance: Iron Man I#298 (November, 1993)
Powers/Abilities: Enhanced strength, durability, rock absorption, bodily reconstitution, liquefaction, and size manipulation.
Height: Earth-Mover: variable, Maximillian: 5'8" (by approximation)
Weight: Earth-Mover: variable, Maximillian: 135 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Earth-Mover: White and red, Maximillian: unrevealed
Hair: Earth-Mover: None, Maximillian: brown
History:
(Iron Man I#298 (fb)) - Dr. Maximillian Stone was the Project Director of Stark Enterprises' Acheron Mountain Geothermal Research Facility. The facility was built inside an extinct volcano to study geothermal energy. Unbeknownst to any at that time, movement by the giant alien robot known as Ultimo underneath the volcano caused an earthquake which impacted the facility's drill core. In order to prevent the facility from being flooded by magma, Dr. Stone attempted to shut down the drill manually by entering the facility's core level deep within the volcano. An additional tremor created a chasm, and Dr. Stone fell into a layer of magma.
(Iron Man I#298 (fb)) - Stone was rescued by an entity of living magma that had been drawn to the local magma currents caused by the drilling rig. Weakened by the cooler magma layer the entity had found itself in, the entity could not maintain Dr. Stone's life for long and would soon die.
(Iron Man I#298) - The entity proposed an alternative: to combine their forms, both physically and mentally, in order to survive. Dr. Stone agreed, and the entity formed a rocky cocoon that enveloped them both. Soon after, their essence became the rocky entity which called itself Earth-Mover.
(Iron Man I#298) - Tony Stark was alerted to the situation at the Acheron Mountain Geothermal Research Facility. Using his neural telepresence armor (Tony Stark was at this time recovering after having undergone treatment for a techno-organic parasite), he investigated the damaged facility. Coming across Earth-Mover, Tony Stark assumed the creature was the reason for the emergency. Although Earth-Mover still possessed the intellect and faculties of Dr. Stone, he was unable at that time to clearly vocalize his thoughts to explain his presence. Tony Stark used his armor to attack Earth-Mover, and a battle ensued, with Earth-Mover able to hold his own against Stark's remote-controlled armor. Earth-Mover was finally able to utter a few words, asking Iron Man to stop his attack, but their battle was interrupted by Ultimo.
(Iron Man I#299) - The alien robot known as Ultimo, fully charged after having been plunged into magma years ago by Iron Man (seen in Iron Man I#96), pulled itself free to confront both Iron Man and Earth-Mover. Iron Man immediately attacked but was easily rebuffed by Ultimo. Earth-Mover struck next, absorbing enough rock to match the much larger Ultimo in size. Iron Man warned Earth-Mover to look out for Ultimo's eye beams but Earth-Mover did not understand. He was immediately vaporized by Ultimo into a pool of bubbling magma.
Comments: Created by Len Kaminski (writer), Tom Tenney (pencils), Avon (inks).
Considering the long exposition on Earth-Mover's creation in Iron Man I#298, only to see his destruction in the first opening pages of Iron Man I#299, it is very likely the character was intended to return at some future date. Prior to his supposed death from the eye beams of Ultimo, Earth-Mover had shown the ability to transform his solid state into a liquefied mass, as well as the ability to heal himself by absorbing additional rocky material. At one point, Iron Man had used his repulsor rays to create a gaping hole directly through Earth-Mover's abdomen, but Earth-Mover easily reconstituted himself.
Note: Tony Stark/Iron Man was never made aware that Earth-Mover was, in fact, Dr. Stone who he had presumed had died in his attempt to save the Acheron facility.
No further reference was made to the sentience of the living magma entity after it combined its essence with Dr. Stone's. Dr. Stone's own personality and intellect seemed intact as Earth-Mover, but the fate of the magma entity was left unknown.
In an interview in the Iron Man\Force Works Collector's Preview (November, 1994) Kaminski said Earth-Mover, Mindstorm from that year's Iron Man Annual, and Atom Smasher (from #287), would be coming back as sort of a Social Justice superteam and oppose Tony. Of course, the Crossing derailed that, but it's worth mentioning.
--TJB
Profile by Hugo V. Negron
CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-Mover has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
Iron Man I#298, p5, pan3 (main image)
Iron Man I#298, p4, pan3,4,5 (creation)
Iron Man I#298, p3, pan7 (origin)
Iron Man I#299, p6, pan1,2 (death)
Appearances:
Iron Man I#298 (November, 1993) - Len Kaminski (writer), Tom Tenney (pencils), Avon (inks), Nelson Yomtov (editor)
Iron Man I#299 (December, 1993) - Len Kaminski (writer), Kevin Hopgood (pencils), Ariane Lenshoek (inks), Nelson Yomtov (editor)
First Posted: 02/11/2017
Last updated: 02/11/2017
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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