GRAVITON
Real Name: Franklin Hall
Identity/Class: Human (Canadian) mutate
Occupation: A.I.M. Island's Minister of Science;
former would-be world conqueror, physicist
Group Membership: A.I.M
Island government (Scientist Supreme/Andrew Forson, Black
Widow/Yelena Belova, Jude
the Entropic Man/Yagzan, Mentallo/Marvin Flumm, Superia/Deidre
Wentworth, Taskmaster);
formerly Legion
Accursed,
Unified Field (Halflife/Banca Rech,
Quantum/Lomen, Zzzax)
Affiliations: Bitterhorn,
Blank,
Brothers Grimm (Percy and Barton Grimes), Chameleon (Dmitri Smerdyakov), Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Goliath (Erik
Josten), Kang (Nathaniel Richards), Nick Katzenberg, Kingpin (Wilson
Fisk), M'reel, Moonstone (Karla
Sofen), Titania (Mary "Skeeter" MacPherran), Sky Raiders, Techno (see comments), Trapster (Peter
Petruski), Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo, see comments)
Enemies: Andromeda
(Andromeda Attumasen), Avengers (Ant-Man/Scott Lang, Black
Knight/Dane Whitman, Black Panther/T'Challa, Black Widow/Natasha
Romanoff, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Justice/Vance Astrovik, Deathcry/Sharra
Neramani, Firebird/Bonita Juarez, Firestar/Angelica Jones,
Hercules/Heracles, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Iron Man/James
"Rhodey" Rhodes, Jack of Hearts/Jack Hart, Luke Cage, Manifold/Eden
Fesi, Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers, Mockingbird/Bobbi Morse,
Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Sentry/Bob
Reynolds, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew,
Silverclaw/Maria de Guadalupe Santiago, Thor/Thor Odinson, Tigra/Greer
Nelson, Triathlon/Delroy Garret Jr, USAgent/John Walker, Vision/"Victor Shade", Wasp/Janet Van Dyne, Wonder Man/Simon
Williams, Yellowjacket/Hank Pym), Beyonder,
Black Bolt (Blackagar Boltagon), Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell), Cloak
(Tyrone Johnson), Doc Samson (Leonard Samson), Dagger (Tandy Bowen),
Daredevil (Matt Murdock), Defenders (Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange, Hellcat/Patsy Walker, Hulk/Bruce Banner, Nighthawk/Kyle Richmond, Silver
Surfer/Norrin Radd, Sub-Mariner/Namor MacKenzie, Valkyrie/Samantha Parrington),
Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan
Richards-Storm, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Ms. Marvel/Sharon Ventura,
Thing/Ben Grimm), Gadget
(Lucy Cervantes), Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Iron Fist/Daniel Rand,
Lightning Bolts (Big Bertha/Ashley Crawford, Dinah Soar, Doorman/DeMarr
Davis, Flatman/Val Ventura, Mister Immortal/Craig Hollis), Edwin Jarvis,
M'reel and her P'tah
armies, Moon Knight (Marc Spector), New Warriors (Aegis/Trey Rollins,
Bolt/Chris Bradley, Namorita/Namorita Prentiss, Nova/Richard Rider,
Speedball/Robert Baldwin, Turbo/Michiko Musashi), Next
Avengers (Francis Barton, Henry Pym Jr., James Rogers, Azari T'Challa, Torunn),
Paragon (Cooper Roth), Joe Parks, Judy Parks, Peregrine
(Alain Racine), Punisher (Frank Castle), Rangers (Phantom Rider/Hamilton
Slade, Red Wolf/Will Talltrees, Shooting Star/Victoria Starwin, Texas
Twister/Drew Daniels), Raquel, Redeemers (Beetle/Leila
Davis, Charcoal,
Citizen V/John Watkins III, Fixer/P. Norbert Ebersol, Jolt,
Meteorite/Valerie Barnhardt, Scream/David Alan Angar, Smuggler/Conrad
Josten), Shang-Chi, Shroud (Maximilian Coleridge),
Spider-Man (Peter Parker), SHIELD, Thunderbolts (Atlas/Erik Josten, Charcoal/Charles
Burlingame, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Jolt/Helen
Takahama, Mach-III/Abe Jenkins (previously Mach-1 & Mach-II),
Moonstone/Karla Sofen, Songbird/Melissa Gold), Union Jack (Joseph Chapman), V-Battalion, X-Men (Archangel/Warren
Worthingon III, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Phoenix/Jean Grey,
Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett), X-Statix,
US Air Force, Winter Guard (Crimson Dynamo/Boris Vadim, Darkstar/Laynia
Petrovna, Red Guardian/Anton, Ursa Major/Mikhail Ursus,
Vanguard/Nikolai Krylenko)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Graviton the First, Emperor of Sky
Island, Lord of the Fundamental Force(s) (nicknames used by himself),
The First One (nickname used by M'Reel), "Gravy-Boat", "Gravy Train"
(nicknames used by Fixer)
Base of Operations: A.I.M. Island (the former island nation of
Barbuda);
formerly an old pumping station outside of Omaha, Nebraska;
formerly
The Raft, New York;
formerly a rented
beach property outside of Los Angeles, California;
formerly Sky Island
(near San Francisco);
formerly Cottonwood,
Wyoming;
formerly Scottsdale,
Arizona;
formerly an estate in the Santa Monica Mountains,
formerly outerspace;
formerly New York
City, New York;
formerly Sky-Island (aka Research City), Canadian Rockies
First Appearance: Avengers I#158 (April, 1977)
Powers/Abilities: Graviton possesses seemingly
unlimited control of gravitational force, which enables him to
manipulate gravitons and anti-gravitons. He can use this ability to
achieve a large variety of offensive and defensive effects. He can
create force fields capable of resisting near-nuclear level energies and
project concussive force beams comprised of gravitons. At maximum
strength, these blasts have a concussive force equivalent to the
explosion of 20.000 pounds of TNT. He can also alter the density of any
target, causing it to either be crushed under its own weight or escape
gravity's pull completely so it levitates under his control. He can fly
by decreasing gravity's pull on himself and can use this method to give
others flight capacity as well, up to dozens at a time. His background
as a physicist has given Graviton greater understanding of his power's
potential possibilities. He has been known to affect other energy forms
like sound and light, at one time he bended lightwaves in such a way
that he could view distant locations. He is able to view the entire
planet through its gravitational field, which makes it possible for him
to use his powers with pinpoint precision. He once picked up a pebble
in Asia and hurled it across the world to hit a target in Australia. His
control over the world's landmass is total and his sphere of influences
extends into outerspace. Graviton has shown the ability to effortlessly
exert control over entire continents, lifting major cities like New
York, Paris and Singapore miles into the sky, while restraining dozens
of superheroes at the same time. His power over the objects he chooses
to levitate is so complete, they stay aloft even when Graviton is
sleeping. Graviton can travel across vast distances, even light years,
by using a gravity shunt to effectively simulate long range
teleportation. He has also been known to use his gravitic energies to
reinforce his own body, granting him extraordinary physical stamina and
healing abilities. In theory, he could also use his powers to increase
his physical strength, but he is a poor hand to hand combatant who
prefers to deal with his enemies at long range. A favorite trick of his
is to send his enemies flying into orbit where they'd inevitably
suffocate or freeze to death. Graviton is a vain, self centered
egomaniac with a vicious streak and no qualms about taking a life (or
two). Graviton's main weakness is his lack of purpose and vision.
Despite his vast powers, his ideas on what to do with his life
and abilities beyond 'conquer and rule the world' remain sorely
lacking. Another example of his shortsightedness is his tendency to
become obsessed with the women he loves or desires. He also has an
undefined upper limit to his powers that, when reached, turn him into a
miniature black hole that has repeatedly delivered him to the dimension
of the P'tah.
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 200 lbs. (without
gravitic augmentation)
Eyes: Blue-grey
Hair: Black (greying at temples)
History:
(Avengers I#158 (fb) ) - Canadian physicist Dr. Franklin Hall was working on an experimental teleportation beam in
Research City, an isolated scientific community in the Canadian Rockies.
Over time, he began lusting
after Judy, the wife of his co-worker Joe Parks.
(Avengers I#159 (fb) ) - Raquel, another colleague of Hall's, wouldn't
give him the light of day when he was still human.
(Avengers I#158 (fb) ) - Hall was having trouble with his
teleportation experiment, because the matrices wouldn't align
properly. Hoping to fix this, he doubled the power and managed to get
the machine to work. However, the teleportation beam homed in on an
equally experimental anti-gravity element that was being bombarded with
atoms in the lab's nearby cyclotron. The beam scrambled Hall's molecules
with the energized atoms of the radioactive substance, granting him
mental control over gravity. At first, he kept these powers secret,
afraid people might consider him a freak. However, as time went on and
he further mastered his abilities, he started to revel in them and
decided to openly use his abilities to take what and whoever he desired.
(Avengers I#158 - BTS) - Hall took control of Research
City, setting himself up as its de facto leader. He ordered all outside
communications cut off and used armed guards to keep his former
colleagues from fleeing or summoning help. However, Joe Parks managed to
put out a distress call to the Avengers before Hall's men caught up with
him. Unfortunately for Parks, his emergency was deemed the work of a
crackpot.
(Avengers I#158) - Joe Parks was brought before Hall and
his assembled colleagues, among them Judy and Raquel. Hall was most
displeased that Joe had disobeyed his orders by contacting the outside
world. Still, it didn't really matter, because Hall used his powers to
lift Research City several miles into the air, where no help could ever
reach them. Parks begged Hall to put the city back, after all the
Avengers thought he was a crackpot and refused to come. In response,
Hall blasted Joe with a gravitic blast that knocked him out, much to the
shock of Judy who called out for him. This enraged Hall, who threatened
to terminate him and end her favored status if she didn't shut up and
get back in place. A tearful Judy complied, while Raquel noticed Judy
was finally getting on Hall's nerves, which suited her just fine. Hall
ordered Parks to be locked away. Joe's remark about the Avengers did
give Hall an idea. He was sure he could beat the team and decided to
dress for the part.
(Avengers I#158 - BTS) - Hall ordered his underlings to
make him a costume, tailored to his specific instructions.
(Avengers I#158) - When the costume was finished, Judy
brought it to Hall. He allowed her to remain while he put it on.
Properly dressed, he claimed that from now on he would no longer be
Franklin Hall, but Graviton. Seconds later, Graviton was attacked by the
Avengers who had managed to sneak up on him. Graviton first tried to
hold the team off by threatening to kill Judy, but then gained enough
confidence to attack the Avengers. As he engaged the Avengers, Raquel
jumped on Judy and knocked her out with a vase, convinced she had
distracted Graviton from sensing the Avengers' approach. By taking Judy
out of the picture, Raquel planned to rule alongside Graviton. He
meanwhile proved more than a match for the team. He beat the Vision's
density shifting with his powers, trapped Captain America under his own
shield by increasing its weight to several tons, used a gravity enhanced
pencil to knock out Wasp and Yellowjacket and condensed a piece of the
floor into a cannonball he hurled at Iron Man and the Scarlet Witch.
After pinning Beast and Wonder Man under some super heavy debris, he
declared victory over the Avengers.
(Avengers I#159) - Seconds after his victory, Graviton
called out for Judy and became outraged when Raquel proudly showed him
her unconscious body. Expecting to be rewarded, Graviton instead slapped
her for hurting the one he loved. When Raquel protested she was really
loyal, he called her a gold-digger who only got interested in him as
Graviton, because she thought he was her way to wealth and power. Just
then, Joe Parks rallied a few of his Research City colleagues to rise up
against Graviton. However, he easily deflected their barrage of bullets
and lifted the malcontents off the ground, planning to kill them. At the
last moment, Judy came to and begged Graviton to spare their lives, in
return she'd do anything he wanted. Her husband Joe didn't want her to
sacrifice herself, but Graviton had heard enough and sent Joe, Raquel
and the others to the surface while he promised to make Judy the future
queen of Earth.
(Avengers I#159 - BTS) - Graviton moved the floating
Research City from the Canadian Rockies towards New York City. At the
same time he had the Avengers pinned on a giant slab of concrete, almost
like a child's butterfly collection. He also contacted the United
Nations New York headquarters as 'the creator of Sky-Island' and
demanded that world power had to be surrendered to him upon arrival.
(Avengers I#159) - As Research City approached New York,
US Air Force jets tried to bomb it out of the sky but the fighters'
weapons were unable to penetrate the gravitic dome around the island.
When news broke out of the mysterious Sky-Island, New Yorkers started to
panic, wondering if it might be the Russians or an invasion from
outerspace. In Avengers Mansion, Edwin Jarvis drank a toast to the
Avengers, who he believed to have perished. The butler's morose moment
was interrupted by the arrival of Black Panther and Thor, who went out
to save their teammates. On Sky-Island, Graviton had dressed up the
disturbed Judy like a queen and was gloating over the defeated Avengers.
When Thor breached the dome with his hammer, Graviton laughed off the
Thunder God's elemental assault, musing that his control over gravity
possible made him a god as well. Thor weakened Graviton sufficiently for
Iron Man to use his armor to escape and aid his fellow Avenger. However,
they weren't able to defeat Graviton. Even when Black Panther used a
field disruptor to free the other Avengers, Graviton easily held his
own. When he turned to see if Judy was impressed by his achievements, he
noticed she was gone, her trail leading off the edge of Sky-Island.
Convinced she only killed herself because the Avengers distracted him
long enough for her to commit suicide, Graviton unleashed all his power
at once to blast the Avengers into atoms. However, this action caused
him to revert into a living black hole, which drew in all of Sky-Island.
The Avengers managed to escape and were on hand when the remains of
Sky-Island (and Graviton) fell to Earth in the shape of a small,
incredibly dense sphere. Iron Man, Wonder Man, Vision and Thor caught
the projectile before it could hit Manhattan and hurled it safely into
the ocean. When they returned home, they found Judy Parks alive and
well. Jarvis had been en route to Sky-Island on a skycycle when he
spotted Judy falling off the cliff.
(Marvel Two-In-One Annual#4 - BTS) - After being rescued
by Jarvis, Judy remained with the Avengers for a while, forming a warm
friendship with the butler.
(Marvel Two-In-One Annual#4 (fb) ) - Graviton somehow
survived becoming a living black hole. He had absorbed the entire mass
of Sky-Island and wound up as part of a sphere of hypercondensed matter
on the bottom of the Hudson River. In the end, he was able to reform
himself though the incident left him an amnesiac bum wandering the
streets of New York.
(Marvel Two-In-One Annual#4) - Graviton encountered Judy
Parks one day when she was out running errands with Jarvis. Seeing her
briefly restored his memory. He grabbed the girl, nailing Jarvis to the
sidewalk with his powers before running off. The incident was witnessed
by the Thing, his girlfriend Alicia Masters and the visiting Black Bolt.
They gave chase, even as Graviton experienced another memory lapse in an
alley with Judy. This left him ill-prepared for the two heroes' attack,
though he did his best to keep them at bay using solidified gravity
bursts. So confused by his faulty memory, Graviton eventually lost
control of his human form and, powered by his connection to the black
hole, transformed into a sentient pocket universe. Appearing as a giant,
flaming monster, his mind cleared. Hall approached Black Bolt and asked
the king of the Inhumans if there might be a place for him in their
society since he clearly no longer belonged in the world of man. When
Bolt denied this request, Graviton became violent and used his powers to
draw a ball of plasma from the sun itself to destroy Attilan out of
spite. To stop the heroes from attacking him, he generated a wall of
miniature black holes that would swallow everything they touched. Thing
was saved by Black Bolt who used his electron manipulation powers to
capture the holes in a cage of electromagnetic force. Graviton then went
on a rampage, destroying parts of New York City. Thing was left to deal
with him while Black Bolt raced to save his kingdom from the rapidly
approaching plasma storm. After successfully deflecting the solar
projectile, Black Bolt rejoined the Thing in New York and together they
came up with a way to force Graviton himself through the black hole that
created him. Before they could carry out their plan, just as Graviton
was about to destroy United Nations Plaza, the villain decided to end
his own existence by releasing conscious control over his unstable,
giant form. As a result, he was swallowed up by the black hole and
vanished.
(Avengers I#190 (fb) - BTS) - When the Avengers requested a senate
hearing to clear up their problems with the government, they were
represented by Emerson
Bale. The talented orator listed the many times the Avengers
proved vital in saving the world, including the time they stopped
Graviton when he threatened to drop his flying island on New York City.
(Thor I#324) - Graviton eventually returned to Earth, having shed the
additional mass he absorbed from Sky-Island. Now looking like himself
again, his mind quickly returned to finding the woman he loved: Judy
Parks. Locating her in an apartment complex, he flew right up into her
bedroom only to find Judy was now pregnant with her husband Joe's baby.
Fed up with Hall obsessively lusting after her, she wondered why he only
wanted her when there were hundreds of women who were far more
attractive and ready to be with him because of his powers. Convinced by
this argument, Graviton took off but not before telling Parks she'd
always regret turning down his offer to be queen. Contemplating his next
move at a bar, drowning his sorrows, Graviton discussed women with the
bartender who suggested that the really glamorous, beautiful ones could
be found at fancy department stores like Bloomingdale's, Sak's or
Bergdorf's. Taking this advice to heart, Graviton flew to Bergdorf's and
lifted the entire structure high into the air while he selected the most
attractive women among the clientele. His stunt was noticed by Thor, who
proceeded to attack the villain only to be casually beaten back. Coming
up with a ruse, Thor first rescued everyone inside the building before
sneaking up on Graviton and his women (who he had suspended up in the
air above the store). Thor injected Graviton with a fast acting knockout drug,
forcing him to put down the department store before he passed
out. Graviton complied in order to save himself and his women. He
restored Bergdorf's seconds before he lost consciousness. Thor then
decided to banish Graviton to outerspace, teleporting the villain there
with Mjolnir.
(West Coast Avengers I#3 (fb) ) - Graviton remained in
outerspace for months until the Beyonder's approach towards Earth woke
him from suspended animation. He traced the powerful energy signature
left in the Beyonder's wake back to Earth where he was able to home in
on the charging field of the LA based petty criminal the Blank.
(West Coast Avengers I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Every time the Blank used his
charger to power his forcefield, Graviton was able to draw himself a
little closer to Earth. This proved to be a slow and hard to determine
process because the Blank would only sparingly and briefly need to
recharge his forcefield. As a result, Graviton grew frustrated.
(West Coast Avengers I#2) - After facing the newly
established team of LA Avengers, the Blank had managed to escape.
Returning to his home, he decided it would be wise to be prepared and
fully charged his belt. This was enough for Graviton to finally return
to Earth, manifesting in the Blank's living room. Though exhausted,
Graviton quickly took control of the situation and promised the Blank he
could help him deal with the Avengers.
(West Coast Avengers I#3 (fb) - BTS) - While most of the
world's heroes were dealing with the freak snowstorms (caused
by Malektih opening the Casket of Ancient Winters), Graviton used the
confusion and distraction to take over a spaceous estate in the Santa
Monica mountains which he occupied along with the Blank, a band of local
thugs and several young, pretty women attracted by the promise of wealth
and power.
(West Coast Avengers I#3 - BTS) - Graviton ordered Blank to take over a
local crime syndicate and use his henchmen to mess up the Cat's Jazz
Club, home of crimelord and Avengers ally the Shroud. Graviton figured
this would lead the team to him.
(West Coast Avengers I#3) - Looking out over LA, Graviton's
musings were interrupted by the Blank who came in to tell him that he
had set Hall's plan to trap the Avengers in motion. Noticing Blank's
obvious nervousness, Graviton became furious when his accomplice doubted
he was able to handle the Avengers on his own. Demonstrating his powers,
while ranting about his accomplishments, Graviton shut down the Blank's
forcefield to prove his might. Properly convinced, the Blank agreed to
carry out the plan, leaving Graviton to revel in the notion that soon
the Avengers would be defeated before they even knew he was back on
Earth. A little while later, he was on hand at a luxurious LA loft the
Blank was using as the headquarters for his new gang. The Avengers
Wonder Man and Tigra arrived along with Shroud to find out why the club
had been attacked. Graviton took charge, easily defeating the heroes and
dismissing the Blank who he felt had become more trouble than he was
worth. Graviton carelessly tossed Tigra and the Shroud out into the Pacific
Ocean while he took specific pleasure in torturing Wonder Man by
drowning him in the nearby pool.
(West Coast Avengers I#4) - Graviton set himself up as
the new "kingpin" of the West Coast, indulging himself in the pleasures
of the position including a steady supply of women and a party that
never seemed to stop. All the while, he was using his powers to keep
Wonder Man submerged as a continuous show of force. At the same time,
the Avengers became aware of him after Iron Man rescued Tigra and the
Shroud. They infiltrated Graviton's operation, with Mockingbird posing
as a bartender while Tigra shifted to her human form and disguised
herself as Maggia leader Madame Masque there to meet with Graviton. When
the Avengers were in position, they revealed themselves and attacked.
During the assault, Graviton's control over Wonder Man slipped, freeing
the hero to join the fray. They eventually lured him to a nearby
electricity substation where Iron Man was waiting for him, all hooked up
to the power net to blast the villain. In the end, dazed and confused,
it was one of Hawkeye's knockout gas arrows that did him in. While the
Avengers went home to celebrate with a barbecue, Graviton was hauled off
to prison by the authorities.
(Secret Wars II#7) - Graviton, along with 98 other supervillains, were
recruited by Mephisto's lackey Bitterhorn to serve as members of his
Legion Accursed. They were sent to fight the Beyonder, unaware that a
single touch from either one of them would be enough to spark the
Beyondersbane, a construct capable of killing the One from Beyond along
with a third of the known universe. However, save for Juggernaut, the
entire Legion Accursed was single-handedly defeated by the Thing. His
scheme foiled, Mephisto let Graviton and the others go.
(West Coast Avengers II#13 (fb) - BTS) - As part of his
latest plan to conquer Earth and find personal fulfillment, Graviton
searched the cosmos to gather a superhuman force that represented the
basis of reality. While he himself represented gravity, he eventually
found and recruited the strong force (Quantum) and weak force
(Halflife). Not able to locate a proper representative of
electromagnetism, he decided to pick the semi-sentient electrical entity
Zzzax. But, since the monster had lost a fight against Hawkeye, Graviton
didn't expect much of the creature. Nevertheless, he helped restore him
to life.
(West Coast Avengers II#12) - Graviton used his powers to
spy on the Avengers, becoming particularly infatuated with Tigra. He
decided he had to have the feline beauty and ambushed her when she was
out in the woods by herself. He then sent Zzax, Halflife and Quantum to
attack LA in order to distract the West Coast Avengers. By the time the team had
defeated the trio, Graviton knocked them all out with a surprise attack.
He hovered over the defeated heroes on a slab of rock, with Tigra
helplessly chained like a pet by his side thanks to an invisible gravity
leash.
(West Coast Avengers II#13) - Graviton took the Avengers
and his allies up to his new Sky Island base, hovering ten miles above
the Earth. There, he had his henchmen (outfitted
with anti-grav devices so the added gravs didn't affect them)
put the prisoners in a gravitic cage. He assured the heroes they were
unable to move and only capable of breathing because his power held the
atmosphere in place. Showing his dominance, he kissed Tigra in front of
everybody, shocking Greer that some part of her actually liked it. He
then went inside to confer with his allies Halflife and Quantum (Zzzax
had perished during the earlier fight), easily detecting and
deflecting Mockingbird's emergency signal to the East Coast Avengers. A
little while later, he approached Tigra again, releasing her from the
leash only to be disappointed when she tried to escape. He placed her in
a force bubble and left, unaware that Tigra could still shift back to
her human form, which was somehow capable of escaping the field. Greer
knocked out a nearby guard and put on his outfit. She then visited
Halflife and Quantum's quarters, telling the suspicious aliens the other
was plotting to kill them. Soon, Graviton was forced to step in and stop
his allies from destroying one another. Using this distraction, Tigra
managed to free the West Coast Avengers from their cage using anti-grav
devices she took off the guards. The Avengers attacked Graviton and the
others, leading to complete chaos when the villain once again lost
control of his powers. Sky Island was rapidly heading upwards towards
outerspace and even though Wonder Man offered to save him, Graviton
refused any help. The Avengers got all of Graviton's henchmen safely off
the island before it disappeared into deep space.
(Fantastic Four I#322 (fb) ) - Graviton managed to save
himself by using the last of his control to drag the density and
temperature of everything on Sky Island down, putting everything in a
state of suspended animation until he could compose himself again. When
he did, he used his powers to drain the atmosphere of a nearby
inhabitable world so he had sufficient oxygen to survive the trip. Now
ready to move again, he steered Sky Island towards Earth once more.
(Fantastic Four I#322) - As soon as he approached Earth,
Graviton became aware of an ultra powerful, though extremely local
gravitational anomaly in the vicinity of New York City (caused
by the Inferno event). The minute he arrived on Earth, Graviton
started to investigate the phenomenon, fighting off several demons which
only confirmed his theories about an imminent dimensional merger. He was
aware he could definitely use his powers to block the merger of Earth
with the demon realm Otherplace (limbo), though he first needed to figure out the
best way to benefit from the upheaval. Mulling this over, he was seen
hovering through the streets of New York by the Thing and Ms. Marvel
(Sharon Ventura) who wasted no time to attack the villain. After he
overcame his initial surprise and confusion over being assaulted by two
Things, Graviton easily beat them back, slamming the durable duo
through skyscrapers and humiliating them by crushing them down on the
pavement. Even the Human Torch could do little to stop him after
Graviton simply drained all the oxygen from his vicinity, effectively
dousing the Torch's flames. The villain then buried them under the
rubble of a large office building he dropped on them. Thinking himself
the victor, Graviton didn't count on the Human Torch burning himself
free and opposing him long enough for the Things to dig themselves out.
The Torch, using heat induced mirror images to distract Graviton, set
the villain up for the Thing who ignored the self-styled god's claims
that he was the only one capable of saving the world and stopping the
growing madness around them. Unimpressed, Ben Grimm simply knocked him
out.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#326 (fb) - BTS) - The Kingpin of Crime reached out
to Graviton not too long after his defeat at the hands of the FF. The
infamous crimeboss, engaged with other supervillains in what would
become known as the "Acts of Vengeance", offered to send other
supervillains to defeat the Avengers if Graviton agreed to take out
Spider-Man. Amused, the lord of the fundamental force agreed, even
though he felt pitting him against the webslinger was like sending a
tiger to crush a kitten.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#326) - Slowly drifting towards New
York City, Graviton's approach was spotted by the NYPD who arrived by
helicopter to arrest the villain. Almost as an afterthought, Graviton
destroyed the aircraft by weighing down the propellers until they sliced
the whirlybird to shreds. He then moved to Manhattan where he figured
the best way to attract Spider-Man's attention was by lifting the Daily
Bugle building into the air. Patiently waiting inside the hovering
office building for Spider-Man to arrive, he allowed photographer Nick
Katzenberg to take pictures of him so the world would have a record of
his impending victory. As soon as Spider-Man arrived, Graviton attacked
but Katzenberg's continued flash photography briefly blinded him, giving
the wallcrawler the opportunity to land a blow. In the end though,
Graviton regained his composure and punished Nick by nailing him to the
floor. Spider-Man felt it necessary to protect the photographer, leaving
him vulnerable to Graviton's final attack: burying them both under tons
of office supplies. When the pile didn't move, Graviton was convinced he
had killed his quarry. Gingerly putting the Daily Bugle building down,
he took off.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#329) - When he learned Spider-Man
was still alive, Graviton grew annoyed and decided to stay in New York
City to finish the job. Literally clouding his presence by gravitically
generating fog, he waited and contemplated his next move. As luck would
have it, Spider-Man swung by and Graviton immediately attacked. Though
he was able to affect the hero's density, he was ill-prepared for the
fact Spider-Man had recently become the latest, though unwitting host of
the omnipotent Enigma Force. Without giving it a second thought,
Spider-Man projected a force blast powerful enough to knock out the
villain, sending him flying through a nearby billboard and a water tower
before he crashed into a parked car.
(Web of Spider-Man I#64 (fb) - BTS) - Graviton was contacted by the
Chameleon, who offered him 100.000 dollars if he killed Spider-Man. The
shapeshifting crimeboss explained that the webslinger was the only one
able to prevent Chameleon and his associates from seizing complete
control of the New York mobs. Eager for a rematch, Graviton agreed and
also went out to recruit some other supervillains.
(Web of Spider-Man I#64) - Graviton ambushed a prison
transport carrying Titania, Trapster and the Brothers Grimm to the
Vault. Lifting the vehicle high into the air and using density shifts to
crumble their bonds, he offered them a choice: come with him to defeat
Spider-Man or die. The villains all agreed to his terms even as Graviton
casually dropped the van, sending the guards to their deaths. He took
his new allies to a seemingly abandoned oil tanker off the coast of New
York City which the Chameleon used for his base. The crimeboss explained
the terms of the deal and introduced them to their final teammate:
Goliath (Eric Josten). Together, they set out to find and capture
Spider-Man. Figuring it worked the last time, Graviton lifted the Daily
Bugle up in the air once again while the others hid in anticipation of
Spidey's arrival. Not expecting attacks from Titania, Trapster and the
Brothers Grimm, Spider-Man wasn't prepared for Graviton's assault. He
increased the limber hero's density until he couldn't stick to walls
anymore. Forced to the ground, though struggling, Spider-Man was
helpless before Graviton who wanted to squash him like a bug. Goliath
then stepped in, literally, by crushing the hero under his giant foot.
All that actually did was slam him into the underground, allowing
Spider-Man to sneak away. When the villains caught wise, they pursued
but in the end it was Graviton who took charge of the situation by
reducing Spider-Man's mass to zero, thereby sending him hurtling towards
an icy death in the outer atmosphere.
(Web of Spider-Man I#65) - Thinking Spider-Man was dead (though
he survived by webbing on to a passing jetliner until the effects of
Graviton's blast wore off), Graviton and the other villains
went back to the Chamelon to collect their reward money. The crimeboss'
headquarters turned out to be empty, leading them to conclude they had been
cheated out of their 100.000 dollars. When Trapster discovered a note in
the safe that proved Chameleon was secretly in business with the Kingpin
(actually his biggest rival),
Graviton flew everyone back to New York to see Fisk himself about their
money. Chameleon watched from a nearby yacht, pleased that they'd fallen
for this planted evidence. If the villains took out Fisk, he could take
over the New York crime scene without any significant opposition. In New
York, Graviton lifted his allies up to Fisk's penthouse offices so they
could "reason" with him. While the others threatened Fisk, Graviton
focused on the man's massive tower, promising to collapse it if he
didn't pony up the reward money. Graviton was stopped by Spider-Man who
webbed his face and then knocked him out with a single punch. Then, he
dealt with the other supervillains in short order, making headlines the
next day in the Jameson News Digest.
(Avengers Unplugged#2)
- Suffering from inexplicable power fluctuations he was unable to
regulate even with a new uniform, Graviton found himself outside of
Scotsdale, Arizona when he completely lost control. Turning into a
living, walking gravitational anomaly, Graviton caught the attention of
the Avengers who came to Arizona to try and help their old enemy while
keeping the population safe from the gravity whirlwinds he generated. In
the end, the Vision inadvertently caused Graviton to become a miniature
black hole. He inverted on himself and disappeared, ending the
threat.
(Thunderbolts I#17 (fb) ) - Graviton next appeared in a micro-dimension
inhabited by a race of simple minded, tiny telepathic creatures called
the P'tah. Mistaking the sudden arrival of the powerful, large man as
the coming of their god, they started to worship Graviton. Shamelessly
making use of their devotion, Hall set himself up as their godking,
forcing them to feed and clothe him. He also instructed them how to make
advanced scientific equipment which he used to study ways to return to
Earth. In the end, Hall was able to construct a beacon of sorts,
broadcasting across the dimensional void in the hopes someone would
discover it and bring him home.
(Thunderbolts I#16 (fb) - BTS) - Graviton's beacon was eventually picked
up by Baron Zemo (Helmut) and his ally Techno. They used their knowledge
of interdimensional transports, robotics and energy transferals to dream
up an ingenious scheme. Techno created a robot resembling the Hulk that
was rigged with energy absorption circuits. When the robot had collected
sufficient energy, it would create a bridge to the P'tah realm, allowing
for Graviton's return.
(Thunderbolts I#17 - BTS) - Baron Zemo's reasoning for bringing Graviton
back centered around his hatred for his former teammates the
Thunderbolts. If Graviton killed them, he would have his vengeance and
even if they escaped the media would blame them for the return of
another dangerous supervillain.
(Thunderbolts I#16 - BTS) - The Hulk robot caught up with
the Thunderbolts in the town of Cottonwood, Wyoming. Seeing the green
giant struck a particular cord within Karla Sofen who still harbored a
grudge against the behemoth because he was the first to defeat her when
she started out as Moonstone. The T-Bolts followed her lead, attacking
the construct and inadvertently feeding its energy absorption circuitry.
At the height of the battle, with the Hulk's face damaged to reveal
circuitry, it became clear they were fighting a robot.
(Thunderbolts I#17 - BTS ) - As soon as the Thunderbolts realized this
Hulk was basically one large energy battery (with induction coils for
arms), they backed off. Unfortunately, at that moment the Lightning Rods
(formerly the Great Lakes Avengers) caught up with the team, acting on
orders from SHIELD to stop and arrest the former villains. While
Moonstone tried to prevent the Rods from attacking the robot, the Hulk
jumped her. Using his built-in induction coils, he directly drained the
alien energies of the gem that powered her. The absorbed energy was
sufficient to close the circuit and transport Graviton back to Earth.
(Thunderbolts I#17) - Thanking all the blessed saints in
heaven for his return, Graviton wasted no time to attack the two teams
of heroes. Using random debris to knock out Dinah Soar, he turned Big
Bertha's bulk against her, sending the massive heroine against her
fellow heroes. Songbird managed to surprise him with a solid sound
spiked ball aimed for his back, but he retaliated by throwing half a
cityblock at her. Even though Mach-1 saved her, Graviton took a moment
to damage his wings before forcing them both to crash. Next, he smashed
Mr. Immortal to pieces, sensed and halted Moonstone's near intangible
approach and proved too quick even for Jolt. After defeating all the
heroes, he pinned them to a slab of concrete as he had done with the
Avengers once before. Reveling in his return to glory, he took his time
to recount his origins and recent events. Right in the middle of his
soliloquy the Thunderbolt Atlas dropped in from a helicopter. Responding
instinctively, Graviton increased the size-changing hero's mass which
caused him to have an even bigger impact when he crashed on the villain
and began to pound him. Briefly pummeled by Atlas' barrage, Graviton
inevitably regained control. However, the Thunderbolts were able to free
themselves, allowing the devious Moonstone a moment to approach
Graviton. Using all her training as a psychologist, she successfully
convinced him that for all his power he lacked any kind of long term
vision beyond "beating all comers and lording it over them". She advised
him that until he sorted out what he truly wanted, he would end up
losing in the end. The maddened fury in Hall's eyes was replaced by the
grimly burning resignation that Sofen spoke the truth. He left the
scene, promising her he would think on this and that he would be back as
soon as he had it figured out.
(Avengers III#15 (fb) - BTS) - Following his fight against the
Thunderbolts and the Lightning Rods in Wyoming, the Avengers became
aware of Graviton's return to Earth. They put the master of the
gravitational force on their outstanding threats list. Firestar
presented the list during her first time chairing the Avengers' weekly
meeting. She discussed Graviton along with other priorities such as Lord
Templar, Pagan, Apocalypse and the Wrecking Crew.
(Thunderbolts I#28 (fb) - BTS) - After giving Moonstone's words
considerable thought, Graviton came up with a new purpose for himself.
He was to become the absolute ruler of his own flying kingdom.
Levitating a piece of rock and turning it into a new Sky Island, he
recruited "bikers, druggies, dreamers and Highlander fans" to
become the first citizens of this new country. Naming them his "Sky
Raiders", he gave all of them the power to fly. Graviton also started a
harem full of attractive women that, naturally, only he could be with.
He planned to introduce Sky Island to the world over the city of San
Francisco.
(Thunderbolts I#27 - BTS) - The Sky Raiders terrorized San Francisco,
raiding inner city stores even as Sky Island slowly approached. The
coming rock made news, especially when Graviton took over the broadcast
and presented himself and his plans.
(Thunderbolts I#28 (fb) ) - Graviton's impromptu newscast was caught by
the Thunderbolts and their visiting ally Angel (Warren Worthington III).
They watched the villain as he explained he was coming to recruit
subjects for his new land, offering the power of flight provided they
obeyed his every word. After announcing he would be holding auditions
the next morning at San Francisco's Coit Tower, he returned the airwaves
to the news organizations who covered how the Air Force futily tried to
attack Sky Island.
(Thunderbolts I#28 - BTS) - With no other superheroes available on the
West Coast and because they felt responsible since Moonstone put the
idea in his head, the Thunderbolts and Angel decided to travel to San
Francisco to stop Graviton.
(Thunderbolts I#28) - At dawn, Graviton descended from Sky
Island to Coit Tower at the top of Telegraph Hill. He quickly dismissed
the San Francisco police department, sending both vehicles and men into
orbit before turning his attention to the roughly 75 people who had come
to join his new kingdom. He asked his follower Lewis to show off his
flying powers to entice the new recruits. It was a ruse however.
Graviton had been aware that Lewis was secretly visiting his harem and
decided to punish him by removing his powers while Lewis was in mid-air.
The man fell to his death, which Graviton used as an example how he
would deal with disobedience. The recruits were stunned at first, but
ultimately tempted by the powers he offered. A little while later, just
as he was lifting his newest citizens to Sky Island, the Thunderbolts
attacked. Initially satisfied to have the Raiders deal with them, he
stepped in when the heroes proved too strong. Even with Angel's help,
the Thunderbolts had difficulty even touching Graviton. Sufficiently
distracted by Atlas relentlessly pounding on his gravitic shields,
Graviton didn't defend himself against one of Hawkeye's sonic arrows
which totally disrupted his concentration allowing the heroes to double
down on him. Unfortunately, a moment's hesitation on Atlas' part was
enough for Graviton to regain control of the situation. With one
gigantic gravitic wave, he took them all out. Levitating his fallen foes
in the air and laughing triumphantly, Graviton didn't spot the two
junior Thunderbolts Jolt and Charcoal who were hiding nearby.
(Thunderbolts I#29) - Graviton took the Thunderbolts and
Angel to Sky Island where he planned to have them executed as a lesson
to the world in the power of his new nation and the danger that lies
within offending its monarch. He even figured the world might applaud
him for executing internationally wanted criminals and a noted mutant
terrorist. After making sure they were properly locked away, Graviton
visited his harem where the women eagerly welcomed him. But even though
he enjoyed his new position and all that it offered him, he still had
the nagging feeling that somehow all this wasn't enough. Later that day,
he had Moonstone brought before him so he could show her how he had
taken her suggestion to heart. He expected his prisoner to be suitably
impressed and willing to beg for her life. Instead she defiantly mocked
him, calling him pathetic and pointing out that setting himself up as
the ruler of losers and hooligans only proved he was still floundering.
Angered, he sent the snickering Sofen back to her cell. The next
morning, after having thwarted the Thunderbolts' desperate, last attempt
at escape, he prepared to execute his enemies on live television. Before
he could act, Jolt and Charcoal arrived wearing special gravity equation
cancelling armbands (designed by
Machine Man's creator) which prevented Graviton's powers from
directly affecting them. Jolt used the element of surprise to strike a
massive blow against the villain, which in turn released the
Thunderbolts and Angel from his gravitic grasp. The heroes quickly
rallied, using teamwork to land blow after blow. Though rattled,
Graviton managed to get Atlas and Charcoal off his back by hurling away
the Sky Island chunk they were standing on. In the heat of the battle,
Moonstone figured all their irrational enemy needed to go over the edge
was a little more psychological warfare. Flying up next to him, Sofen
started to needle him, telling Hall that while it was already sad enough
he'd wasted all that power on cliched fantasies and borrowed dreams, the
fact he wasn't even able to hold on to those made it even worse. Furious
and raving, Graviton completely lost control over his powers and
exploded into a living gravitational anomaly.
(Thunderbolts I#30) - Graviton kept bleeding power
uncontrollably, leading his Sky Raiders to abandon the flying island en
masse because they were afraid their power might cut out soon. The
Thunderbolts then were forced to deal with Graviton and the danger of
Sky Island crashing on San Francisco. Moonstone came up with a plan: hit
Graviton with all the gravity equation cancelling armbands Jolt and
Charcoal had brought. Agreeing to try this strategy, Angel volunteered
to fly up to Graviton. Exposing him to the armbands caused a sudden
disruption in his energy output, briefly returning Hall to normal.
However, moments later the gravitic force began to spasm and collapse
inward which once more turned Graviton into a black hole. He sucked in
all of Sky Island before vanishing into nothingness again. The
Thunderbolts were able to escape by the skin of their teeth, though
Hawkeye was pretty sure their enemy would be back. Some time later,
while licking his wounds in a dimensional void, Graviton was approached
by M'reel, who promised to make sure Hall would have the great vision he
sought.
(Thunderbolts I#58 (fb) - BTS) - M'reel actually planned to use Graviton
to power a gravitational shunt that would release the P'tah armies from
their micro-dimensional prison and lead them to conquer Earth.
(Thunderbolts I#51 (fb) - BTS) - With some help from M'reel, Graviton
returned to Earth. Taking up residence in a luxurious LA mansion he
completely redesigned with his gravity powers, Franklin Hall began to
plan his next move.
(Thunderbolts I#51 - BTS) - Ready to get underway,
Graviton ordered M'reel to seek out Moonstone and bring her to him.
After a while, the alien located Karla Sofen and convinced her to
accompany her back to meet "the first one". Intrigued but unaware who M'reel
was talking about, Sofen went along with the curious alien.
(Thunderbolts I#51) - Graviton warmly welcomed Moonstone, sensing she
was surprised, curious and afraid. He assured her all these emotions
were warranted, after all he could kill her before she even tried to
flee. He offered her a question instead: what would be in it for her if
she helped him rule the world?
(Thunderbolts: Life Sentences#1) - Moonstone grudgingly accepted the
role of "spiritual advisor" to Graviton, counseling him in discovering
his true purpose in the world. Taking her new patient out to the beach
at night, she had him use his powers to instinctively visualize what he
truly desired. In response, Graviton formed some of the sand into an
image of the Earth with half the planet reshaped into his own face.
Suppressing the urge to call him a sick egomaniac who needed to be
killed, Moonstone subtly tried to convince him there's not much
satisfaction to be had ruling over your own planet when most of the
population was dead. M'reel and Graviton assured her that with her aid,
they might find a way to prevent all those deaths. He then showed her
the other half of his imagined planet, resembling Moonstone's face. The
idea she would get half the world to rule sorely tempted Sofen.
(Thunderbolts I#53 - BTS) - Under Moonstone's tutelage,
Graviton discovered the true measure of his powers. His background as a
scientist had always complicated matters because he tried to use his
powers within his self imposed rigid physical and philosophical systems.
Sofen helped him see that his abilities placed him far above impediments
like basic physics or the laws of nature. As a result, he could now
achieve feats he previously held impossible.
(Thunderbolts I#53) - To show off his newfound strength, Graviton took
Moonstone on a trip to the Moon. There, he reconfigured the Moon's
entire Mare Insularum crater field "simply by making it happen". Though
she was impressed by his mastery of scale gravity, Moonstone had another
challenge for Hall: could he cradle a pebble? Intrigued and amused by
the idea that Moonstone would challenge him to hold a rock on the Moon,
he promised he would think on it.
(Thunderbolts I#54) - A few days later, Graviton was
meditating on the beach outside his rented home when Moonstone came by
to check on him. He told her he was "attending his teacher's syllabus",
revealing he had just lifted a small stone in China and "deposited" it
through a woman's head in Australia "just to see if he could do it" (the woman in question was Moonstone's
childhood friend Deanna Stockbridge, though Graviton intentionally
didn't mention this yet because he hoped to use it to intimidate
Moonstone later).
(Thunderbolts I#55) - Convinced he was sufficiently prepared to start
his plans of global conquest, Graviton created a new costume to mark the
occasion. Briefly saying goodbye to Moonstone and M'reel, he teleported
himself to the Thunderbolts' headquarters in Colorado's Mount Charteris.
He ripped apart the mountain, ready to make sure his old enemies were
the first to fall only to find SHIELD and the Redeemers instead. Not
wasting a moment, he offered them the choice which one of them would die
first.
(Thunderbolts I#56) - Graviton made short work of the Redeemers. Within
seconds he destroyed Scream by locking him inside a vacuum and then
shattered Charcoal into pieces presumably too tiny to reform. Next, he
locked in on Jolt's bio-electricity and, through gravity negation,
caused her corporeal form to fall apart. Meteorite was hurled into orbit
and while he allowed Fixer the illusion of escape before crushing him,
he was overtaken by the Smuggler who emerged from the shadows inside
Graviton's own body. While Smuggler had him on the ropes, Moonstone and
M'reel arrived from California. Sofen made her presence known to Fixer.
She explained the current situation and advised to get on his good side,
because there really wasn't anywhere on Earth he could hide from
Graviton anymore. By that time, Graviton had rid himself of the Smuggler
by teleporting himself in orbit of the sun where no shadows could exist.
On his way back to Earth, he passed the suffocating Meteorite in orbit.
When he arrived at Mt. Charteris, he crushed the Beetle as an
afterthought before greeted by Moonstone, M'reel and the Fixer who
offered his services. Graviton accepted, calling it a wise choice and
wondering if perhaps Moonstone would help others make similar smart
decisions. He then began his masterplan in all earnest, lifting up over
30 major cities all around the world in preparation for his global
redecoration.
(Thunderbolts I#57 - BTS) - In response
to Graviton's actions, most of Earth's superheroes joined forces to stop
him. They were all easily defeated and forced to hang in suspended
animation in the air over Burton Canyon. While Graviton continued his
terraforming mission, expending massive amounts of gravitic energy,
Fixer discovered M'reel was siphoning off part of that power for an
unknown purpose. At the same time, Fixer was contacted by Citizen V
(Helmut Zemo in John Watkins III's body) who offered to release him from the Redeemers program if
he could distract Graviton long enough for the Penance Council to send
in reinforcements (actually armaments for Songbird and Mach-III).
Agreeing to this, Fixer shot M'reel with a taser.
(Thunderbolts I#57) - Briefly alarmed when M'reel fell, Graviton went to
check on his alien aide before resuming his work.
(Thunderbolts I#57) - Fixer's ruse worked, with Songbird, Mach-III and
the newly arrived, ionically powered Dallas Riordan in tow, Citizen V
mounted a counter attack that actually surprised Graviton. Dazed by
Dallas' punch, he was slammed towards Citizen V by Songbird's giant
solid sound Sammy Sosa. The leader of the Thunderbolts mercilessly
skewered the villain who cried out in pain.
(Thunderbolts I#58) - Gravely injured by the Thunderbolts'
relentless attacks, Graviton was about to perish when Jolt reformed
herself and warned them off. If he died, all the cities would come
crashing down. Forced to use her psychological skills once again,
Moonstone tried to gently talk the nearly unresponsive Franklin Hall
into lowering the cities. Before he could comply, it became clear to the
Fixer that whatever M'reel was planning was about to happen because a
gravity tunnel started to form. He shot and killed M'reel, but that
didn't stop a portal from opening and the P'tah armies from storming
through. Graviton was as surprised as the Thunderbolts at this, furious
that he was used. He began to use his powers to fight the alien
warriors, uncaring that the more energy he expanded, the stronger and
more stable the portal became. After a devastating heart-to-heart with
Moonstone, during which he revealed he had killed Deanna Stockbridge in
the hopes of intimidating her, the hurt psychologist scolded Hall one
last time for having caused his own defeat. In response, he lowered the
cities and Earth's heroes while also mending the ruptured earth. This
forced the portal to start to close, but everything went wrong when one
of the P'tah soldiers hit Graviton with an energy spear. As a result, he
lost all control of his gravimetric powers, which would lead to the
portal imploding on itself and sucking in all of Earth as it closed.
Acting fast, the Thunderbolts decided to create a vacuum around the
portal (created by Songbird's solid
sound construct) while they stayed inside it with Graviton to
fight off the remaining P'tah. Moments before the portal collapsed and
everyone vanished, Graviton told Karla Sofen that he felt she and all
the others deserved better than this.
(New Avengers: Most Wanted Files#1 (fb) - BTS) - Graviton secretly
survived and was eventually taken into SHIELD custody. He was
incarcerated inside the Raft.
(New Avengers I#3) - Following Electro's attack on the Raft, Graviton
was among the 40 supervillains who tried to escape, but was defeated.
(New Avengers: Most Wanted Files#1) - After the massive prison break,
Captain America helped SHIELD compile files on all the supervillains
involved in the conflict. He quoted Moonstone's analyses when he
described Graviton as a force of nature who deep inside is "a frightened
little man whose vanity and insecurity doom him to perpetual failure."
(Invincible Iron Man IV#8 - BTS) - His continued stay at
the Raft seemingly made Hall mentally unstable. He believed the prison
was actually a factory, which used its prisoners as resources. When he
had half the chance, he tried to escape though the Avengers quickly
arrived to try and stop him.
(Invincible Iron Man IV#8) - Ranting and raving, Hall held off the team,
while tears poured from his eyes. Graviton tried to kill Captain America
by crushing him, when Spider-Man tried to intervene he forced the
webslinger on top of Cap, increasing both their densities until Spidey's
ribs began to crack. Right around that moment, the newly Extremis-enhanced
Iron Man arrived and easily overpowered Franklin Hall with a
continuous burst of heated plasma energy.
(Invincible Iron Man IV#21 (fb) - BTS) - Graviton spent
nearly a year in a secure medical facility to recuperate from the burns
he suffered at the hands of Iron Man. When he was well enough, he was to
be transported to the 42 intake station in Upstate New York under heavy
sedation. However, en route his transport was hijacked and the agents
escorting him were killed. Graviton was taken to an old pumping station
outside of Omaha, Nebraska.
(Invincible Iron Man IV#21) - Graviton's presence at the pumping station
was detected and the authorities sent Gadget and Paragon, two members of
the Initiative's Nebraska team to investigate. They discovered the
supervillain who was still mentally incoherent. In the fight that
proceeded, Gadget died and Paragon and Graviton were both injured.
(Invincible Iron Man IV#21-23) - Iron Man investigated the incident and
uncovered a thoroughly convoluted scheme. It had been Paragon (acting
on orders from the Mandarin) who killed his teammate,
afterwards allowing Graviton to injure him to place the blame on the
unstable but otherwise innocent supervillain. Because he felt no court
of law would believe this story and sentence him anyway, Graviton
decided to use his powers to give himself a seemingly fatal cerebral
haemmorhage.
(Secret Avengers II#2) - When AIM declared the former nation of Barbuda
as its own independent state, Graviton was approached to become one of
its ministers. Intrigued by the work this offered, he accepted and
became AIM Island's Minister of Science.
(Secret Avengers II#3 - BTS) - SHIELD, and in turn the Secret Avengers,
became aware of AIM recruiting Graviton and other supervillains such as
Yelena Belova and Mentallo to its cause.
(Secret Avengers II#5 - BTS) - Hawkeye spotted Graviton while on a
covert mission to AIM Island with Nick Fury Jr. and the Black Widow,
sent by SHIELD to assassinate the Scientist Supreme.
(Secret Avengers II#7) -
Graviton briefly involved himself in opposing the Avengers after they
thought they had assassinated the Scientist Supreme. However, he soon
lost interest in the situation and returned to his studies, allowing the
Iron Patriot armors (the islands'
defense systems) to deal with the heroes.
(Secret Avengers II#8) - Graviton was lost in his studies, meditating to
better understand the nature of the universe and all things in it, when
he was interrupted by his fellow minister Superia. Ignoring his
annoyance, she came to inform him the Scientist Supreme had called yet
another meeting. Feeling he had very little choice but to obey, Graviton
showed up at the meeting along with the others. There, the Scientist
Supreme introduced them to the man who was going to hold a revolutionary
presentation: AIM scientist Harold Bainbridge (secretly
Mockingbird who had no idea what was going on).
(Secret Avengers II#12) - Mockingbird
attempted to bluff her way through the meeting, discovering Bainbridge
was responsible for making the Extremis technology work for AIM through
use of nanotechnology. Thinking she could stall for time, she claimed
she needed 48 more hours to produce some viable results. Graviton was
tempted to grant this request, feeling that time is the dung from which
ideas sprout to life. However, the Scientist Supreme then revealed he
had known Mockingbird was inside Bainbridge's mind all along and had her
taken away for questioning. Graviton and the others weren't pleased that
the Scienist Supreme had kept this from them, but decided not to pursue the issue.
(Secret Avengers II#15) - Graviton, Superia and Jude the
Entropic Man were all at AIM Island's beach when Graviton sensed that
the Scientist Supreme's plan had begun. He claimed to hear the sound of
wheels breaking and cycles being shed. Superia suggested that they could
still prevent this absurdity, but Jude ensured them there was no way of
stopping the universe itself. Adding that entropy had to be earned.
(Avengers World#5) - The Scientist Supreme held another meeting with
his ministers during which he discussed AIM's current progress. After
having turned the Avenger Smasher into their messenger, the masterplan
proceeded apace. Graviton and Superia didn't really care for all this,
with Graviton claiming he wasn't interested in the Scientist's religious
philosophies and had only joined up to get what was promised him. The
Scientist assured him that as soon as the Avengers were defeated, they
could claim the world and all that was promised would be given.
(Avengers World#9) - Graviton and his fellow ministers were spotted on
AIM Island by a drone remote-piloted by Maria Hill, who was looking for
Avengers Cannonball and Sunspot, left behind on the island following a
recent, botched mission.
(Avengers World#10) - Graviton joined his fellow ministers in helping
the Scientist Supreme celebrate the advancement and expansion of AIM
Island (a feat accomplished hrough
the use of pirated technology from the future).
(Avengers World#11) - Graviton and Superia, along with a contingent of
AIM warriors, were sent to oppose Maria Hill, Manifold and a team of
super powered teens from the future called the Next Avengers. They had
come to Barbuda to stop the Scientist Supreme from starting the
beginning of the end of the universe. Graviton first focused on Torunn,
knocking her out before taking on the others. In the end, he was
defeated through a clever trick of Manifold's, who teleported away James
Rogers' energy shield in mid-air, causing it to hit the villain in the
back of the head. Superia and the AIM mercenaries were routed pretty
soon after that. To prevent AIM from ever using any of the information
and technology stolen from the future, the Next Avengers detonated a
data eraser called a Sigkill.
(Avengers
World#14 - BTS) - The Avengers reflected on how they'd dealt with the
multiple crises posed by AIM, Graviton and Morgana LeFay all at the
same time.
Comments: Created by Jim Shooter (writer), Sal
Buscema (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks).
Boy, Graviton sure loves lifting real estate, doesn't he?
It's always tickled me that Graviton, a textbook example
of your garden variety raving, homicidal egomaniac, is actually
Canadian. So much for the cliche Canucks are quiet, unassuming folk, eh?
Graviton was rescued from his dimensional exile by Helmut
Zemo and Techno, but he never learned the identity of his benefactors,
which technically means he isn't affiliated with them. Mephisto
recruited Graviton along with just about every other supervillain he
could find to fight the Beyonder (and inadvertently the Thing). But
considering Mephisto only acted through his associate Bitterhorn, he
doesn't really count as an affiliation.
It's hard to explain away Graviton committing suicide in the pages of Iron Man only to have him
show up alive and well in Avengers a
few years later with no questions asked. There was also no trace of his
insanity or the giant scar on his head seen during his erratic Iron
Man appearances. It's almost enough to make one consider the
events of those issues were all part of Tony Stark's own mania at the
time.
Graviton's time as a part of AIM's leadership was odd, to say the
least. He barely involved himself with either the internal organization
let alone help out against the Avengers all that often. He was mostly
there, quietly puttering away... not at all like the ranting, vengeful
egomaniac he started out to be. Guess people can grow after all.
Bastards of Evil member Singularity (Young Allies
II#1-5) was allegedly the son of Graviton until it turned out he was
just a teenager mutated by the Superior, the true son of the Leader,
who implanted false memories into the teenagers after mutating them.
--Markus Raymond
Graviton received profiles in the Official Handbook of the Marvel
Universe I#4, Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#5 (1986), Official Handbook
of the Marvel Universe Master Edition#16, Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate
Character Guide, Marvel Encyclopedia#1 Fantastic Four, New Avengers:
Most Wanted Files#1 (2005), All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel
Universe#1 (2007), the Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe A-Z HC#4
(2008).
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Graviton should not be confused with
- Gravity (Greg Willis), young idealistic superhero
@ Gravity#1
- Lifter (Ned Lathrop),
density controlling mutant @ Captain America Annual I#4
- Harry
Leland, portly density shifting Hellfire Club member @ Uncanny
X-Men I#132
- or any other "Graviton" characters
images: (without ads)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z#1, p15, pan1 (main image)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition#16, Graviton entry (master)
Avengers I#159, p8, pan1 (pinning the Avengers down like butterflies)
Marvel Two-In-One Annual#4 page 14 panel 4 (becomes a monster)
West Coast Avengers I#2, p24, pan6 (ready for action)
West Coast Avengers I#3 (page 22 panels 4 & 5 (drowns Wonderman)
West Coast Avengers II#13, p7, pans6&7 (libeling Tigra)
Fantastic Four I#322 p11, pan3 (mocks the Things)
Amazing Spider-Man I#329, p9, pans2&3 (defeated by Spider-Man)
Avengers Unplugged#2, p1, pan1 (alternate uniform)
Thunderbolts I#17, p10, pans1&2 (fighting T-bolts and Lightning
Rods)
Thunderbolts I#29, p14, pans4&5 (mocked by Moonstone)
Thunderbolts I#30, p7, pans1&2 (stopped by Angel)
Thunderbolts I#57, p21, pan6 (skwered by Citizen V)
Thunderbolts I#58, p16, pan5 (admits to killing Deanna Stockbridge)
Iron Man IV#21, p5, pan3 (brain addled and stuck in Nebraska)
Secret Avengers II#7, p12, pans1,2,3 (fighting the Secret Avengers on
Barbuda)
Secret Avengers II#12, p5, pan4 (considers time the manure of science)
Appearances:
Avengers I#158 (April, 1977) - Jim
Shooter (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Avengers I#159 (May, 1977) - Jim Shooter (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Marvel Two-In-One Annual#4 (December, 1979) - Allyn Brodsky, David
Michelinie (writers), Jim Craig (pencils), Bob Budiansky & Bruce
Patterson (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Avengers I#190 (December, 1979) - Steven Grant (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Thor I#324 (October, 1982) - Doug Moench (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
West Coast Avengers I#2 (October, 1984) - Roger Stern (writer), Bob
Hall pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
West Coast Avengers I#3 (November, 1984) - Roger Stern (writer), Bob
Hall pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
West Coast Avengers I#4 (December, 1984) - Roger Stern (writer), Bob
Hall pencils), Brett Breeding & Peter Berardi (inks), Mark
Gruenwald (editor)
Secret Wars II#7 (January, 1986) - Jim Shooter (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks), Bob Budiansky (editor)
West Coast Avengers II#12 (September, 1986) - Steve Engelhart (writer),
Al Milgrim (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
West Coast Avengers II#13 (October, 1986) - Steve Engelhart (writer),
Al Milgrim (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Fantastic Four I#322 (January, 1989) - Steve Englehart (writer), Keith
Pollard (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#326 (December, 1989) - David Michelinie (writer),
Colleen Doran (pencils), Andy Mushynsky (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#329 (February, 1990) - David Michelinie (writer),
Erik Larsen (pencils), Andy Mushynsky (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Web of Spider-Man I#64 (May, 1990) - Gerry Conway (writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Web of Spider-Man I#65 (June, 1990) - Gerry Conway (writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Avengers Unplugged#2 (December, 1995) - Glenn Herdling (writer), M.C.
Wyman (pencils), Sandu Florea (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Thunderbolts I#16 (July, 1998) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#17 (August, 1998) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers III#15 (April, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), George Pérez (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#27 (June, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#28 (July, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#29 (August, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#30 (September, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#51 (June, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts: Life Sentences#1 (July, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer),
Charlie Adlard (pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#53 (August, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick
Zircher (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort, Marc Sumerak (editors)
Thunderbolts I#54 (September, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#55 (October, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#56 (November, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#57 (December, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#58 (January, 2002) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick
Zircher (pencils), Al Vey & Rich Perrotta (inks), Tom Brevoort
(editor)
New Avengers I#3 (March, 2005) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), David
Finch (pencils), Danny Miki, Allen Martinez & Victor Olazaba
(inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Invincible Iron Man IV#8 (July, 2006) - Charles & Daniel Knauf
(writers), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort
(editor)
Invincible Iron Man IV#21 (October, 2007) - Charles & Daniel Knauf
(writers), Roberto De La Torre (pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort
(editor)
Invincible Iron Man IV#22 (November, 2007) - Charles & Daniel Knauf
(writers), Roberto De La Torre (pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort
(editor)
Invincible Iron Man IV#23 (December, 2007) - Charles Daniel Knauf
(writers), Butch Guice (pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Avengers II#2 (May, 2013) - Nick Spencer (writer), Luke Ross
(pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort & Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Secret Avengers II#3 (June, 2013) - Nick Spencer (writer), Luke Ross
(pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort & Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Secret Avengers II#5 (August, 2013) - Nick Spencer (writer), Luke Ross
(pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort & Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Secret Avengers II#7 (October, 2013) - Nick Spencer (writer), Butch
Guice, Steve Epting & Brian Thies (pencils), Rick Magyar &
Butch Guice (inks), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Secret Avengers II#8 (October, 2013) - Nick Spencer (writer), Luke Ross
(pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort & Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Secret Avengers II#12 (February, 2014) - Nick Spencer & Ales Kot
(writer), Butch Guice (pencils & inks), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Secret Avengers II#15 (April, 2014) - Nick Spencer & Ales Kot
(writer), Butch Guice (pencils & inks), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Avengers World I#5 (June, 2014) - Nick Spencer (writer), Stefano Caselli (pencils & inks), Wil Moss (editor)
Avengers World I#9 (September, 2014) - Nick Spencer (writer), Stefano Caselli (pencils & inks), Wil Moss (editor)
Avengers World I#10 (September, 2014) - Nick Spencer (writer), Marco Checchetto (pencils & inks), Wil Moss (editor)
Avengers World I#11 (October, 2014) - Nick Spencer (writer), Raffaele Ienco (pencils & inks), Wil Moss (editor)
Avengers World I#14 (December, 2014) - Nick Spencer (writer), Marco Checchetto (pencils & inks), Wil Moss (editor)
First Posted: 09/19/2017
Last updated: 09/19/2017
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099
Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
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