GLADIATOR
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-1610) human technology user
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Nurhachi (see comments)
Enemies: Spider-Man (Peter Parker), New York
police, Captain Jeanne De Wolfe, museum staff
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New York City, USA
(Earth-1610)
First Appearance: Ultimate Spider-Man I#60
(August, 2004)
Powers/Abilities: The aggressive Gladiator
wears an enhanced suit of armor that increases his strength and
durability, although his upper arms are exposed. Of note are his
shoulder-mounted
pauldrons and wrist-mounted vambraces, which house multiple retractable
razor-sharp blades. The vambraces can shoot the blades as projectiles
as
well. He is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant and well-trained in the
use of his suit, relying exclusively on the in-built weapons.
Height: 6'8"
Weight: 280 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Unrevealed
History:
(Ultimate Spider-Man I#60 (fb) - BTS) - Inside a
museum and having already killed a guard, the angry Gladiator demanded
the release of Nurhachi, although people did not know who that was.
Other museum staff were trapped hostage inside and New York police
Captain Jeanne De Wolfe responded. A negotiator and FBI were en route.
(Ultimate Spider-Man I#60) -
Spider-Man arrived and
confronted Gladiator, who fired blades from his wrist-mounted
vambraces. Spider-Man dodged and the ensuing battle damaged displays.
When Spider-Man became tangled in ropes, Gladiator fired more blades and called for blood,
injuring Spider-Man, who retaliated by webbing up the villain's helmet's eye
lenses. Spider-Man then pummeled Gladiator using a pole. Gladiator
called for his "Emperor" before falling unconscious.
He was afterward likely disarmed,
arrested and incarcerated.
Comments: Created by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks).
Gladiator invoked the name of Nurhachi, likely a reference to the prominent Manchurian chieftain/ruler of the late 16th Century. This brings in a new ingredient to Gladiator, suggesting a Chinese-Mongolian influence to the civilian character outside of the ancient Roman domain, and he might not be the Ultimate Universe's counterpart of Melvin Potter or Wylie Lemmick, despite costume similarities and appearing amongst Roman/classical museum relics. While a little inconsistent across panels, skin shading did not seem to be Caucasian.
Psychotic or possessed? Who knows (but did seem to hear "voices")? He spoke English and could use the phone.
Although not named in-story, the character's
code-name was confirmed in the Official Handbook of the Ultimate Marvel
Universe. He received a short entry in the 2005 Ultimate Universe Handbook.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Gladiator has no known connections to:
images:
(without ads)
Ultimate Spider-Man I#60, p9 (main image)
p11-12, pan3 (headshot)
p10, pan 1 (wrist blades)
Appearances:
Ultimate Spider-Man I#60 (August,
2004) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott
Hanna (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Last updated: 09/10/17
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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