TROLL
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human, mystically enhanced
Occupation: Assassin
Group Membership: Deathspawn
Affiliations: Blackout (Lilin), Carver, Centurious, Deathwatch, Hag, Steel Vengeance, Steel Wind
Enemies: Michael Badilino, Johnny
Blaze, Demogoblin, Ghost Rider (Daniel Ketch), Guardsmen, Hobgoblin
(Jason Macendale), Father Martin, Snowblind, Spider-Doppelganger, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Venom (Eddie Brock), Zarathos
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New York City, New York, USA
First Appearance: Ghost Rider III#23 (March, 1992)
Powers/Abilities: Troll had various mystical
abilities to manipulate energy. He could reshape his hands into an
elongated whip-like appendages in order to grapple opponents, making it
easier to drain their life force.
Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Dark blue
Hair: White
History: (Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of
Vengeance I#6 (fb) - BTS) - Hag and Troll were two humans who
sacrificed a portion of their life force in order to help summon the
demonic Translord Deathwatch into Earth's dimension. Deathwatch
rewarded them by granting them mystical abilities to similarly drain
energies.
(Ghost Rider III#23 (fb) - BTS) - Hag and Troll
received their codenames from Deathwatch and worked for him in his
guise as a human businessman. At some point, they worked with his ally
Blackout. At another time, they encountered the demon Zarathos.
(Ghost Rider III#23) - After one of his ninja
assassins was captured by the police, Deathwatch called upon Hag and
Troll to help him clear up the loose ends. Hag, Troll and Deathwatch
invaded the police station where the assassin was being interrogated.
After Hag shut off the building's lights, Troll joined the others in
slaughtering the police in the dark, with only officer Michael Badilino
putting up an effective resistance. Although the mission was a success
and the trio intended to move on to the Middle East for an
assassination assignment, Deathwatch learned his supposedly-dead foe
Ghost Rider was still alive and instructed Hag and Troll to aid him,
correctly surmising this Ghost Rider had a connection to their old
mutual foe Zarathos.
(Ghost Rider III#24) - Hag and Troll helped
Deathwatch kidnap his former underling Snowblind, who had recently
failed in combat with Ghost Rider and given up information on
Deathwatch. Deathwatch, Hag and Troll began a mass feeding on human
lives to invigorate themselves with Snowblind held back as their final
treat. Hag and Troll helped torture Snowblind before turning him over
to Deathwatch to be killed (or so it seemed). When Ghost Rider
burst upon the scene, Troll proved no match for his power. Ghost Rider
wound up delivering a mortal blow to Deathwatch which caused him to
explode. Ghost Rider believed Hag and Troll were likewise killed in the
explosion.
(Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance I#4 (fb) -
BTS) - Troll dragged Hag into the fire exit just before Deathwatch
exploded. Once Ghost Rider left the scene, they retrieved Deathwatch's
body.
(Web of Spider-Man I#94) - Hag and Troll went out to
feed on people's life energies. Attracting the attention of a federal
vehicle manned by two armored Guardsmen, the duo quickly killed the
Guardsmen and consumed their energies along with the other federal
agents. By doing so, they unwittingly released Venom from captivity
inside the vehicle.
(Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance I#4) - Hag
and Troll went seeking "the Others" (Deathspawn) to restore Deathwatch
but needed to feed on more life energy before continuing. The duo
drained a pair of passersby but Ghost Rider was drawn to them by the
innocent blood they had shed, with Ghost Rider's ally Johnny Blaze
close behind. Blaze's hellfire shotgun blasted one of Troll's tendrils
in two but before Hag and Troll could be defeated the Deathspawn
appeared to spirit them and Deathwatch away.
(Web of Spider-Man I#95) - Hag, Troll and the
Deathspawn were followed into the sewers by Ghost Rider, Blaze and
Venom, the latter of whom had sworn vengeance for the Guardsmen they
had killed. Venom tied up Hag and Troll in his webbing but before he
could take further action the scene was intruded on by the hero
Spider-Man, who was in the midst of an altercation between the
Demogoblin and Hobgoblin which had also involved the Demogoblin's
Spider-Doppelganger ally and a Catholic priest, Father Martin. While
Spider-Man battled Venom and Demogoblin assaulted Ghost Rider, the
Deathspawn escaped again with Hag, Troll and Deathwatch.
(Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance I#5) - Venom
caught up to Hag and Troll again but when he saw the Deathspawn were
threatening Spider-Man, he let the murderers go, unwilling to see his
old enemy perish. Not trusting Venom, Blaze attacked him and in the
confusion, the Deathspawn spirited away everyone concerned except for
Venom, Ghost Rider and Blaze, intending to use Spider-Man, the
Spider-Doppelganger, Demogoblin, Hobgoblin and Father Martin as victims
to revive Deathwatch. Blaze, Ghost Rider and Venom rescued all of the
Deathspawn's prisoners but Hag, Troll and the Deathspawn again escaped
with Deathwatch.
(Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance I#6) - While
Spider-Man and the others exited the scene, the Deathspawn imprisoned
Venom, Blaze and Ghost Rider while Hag and Troll prepared the ceremony
to revive Deathwatch, explaining to their prisoners how Deathwatch had
given them their powers. Many of the Deathspawn sacrificed their life
energies to revive Deathwatch but he remained in a semi-conscious
state, unable to speak. Blaze, Venom and Ghost Rider were offered as
the final energies needed to restore Deathwatch to full power but
Spider-Man returned in time to restrain Deathwatch. Spider-Man freed
the other heroes and Blaze restrained Hag and Troll by holding his
mystical shotgun to their heads. Another team of Guardsmen arrived to
recapture Venom but Ghost Rider and Blaze insisted they be allowed to
retain custody of Hag, Troll and Deathwatch. Fastening his mystical
chain around his three foes, Ghost Rider drove away, dragging them
behind his motorcycle.
(Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance I#7) - Ghost
Rider transported Deathwatch, Hag and Troll back to Johnny Blaze's base
at the Quentin Carnival. While monitoring his foes in the snowy
outdoors, Ghost Rider was attacked by Steel Vengeance and Steel Wind,
who took the three prisoners away just as the demon Mephisto began a
confrontation with Ghost Rider and Blaze.
(Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance I#9) - The
captured Deathwatch, Hag and Troll were turned over to Centurious and
his spare parts man Carver for analysis to see if Deathwatch could be
fully revived.
Comments: Created by Howard Mackie and Mark Texeira.
Web of Spider-Man I#94 is the first time Troll's
powers were made clear - his power seemed to be some kind of cable he
fired from his wrist in his early appearances but in Web of Spider-Man
I#94, it became clear he could transform his entire arm into a tentacle.
It's pretty amazing that Hag and Troll's entire saga
played out across just a single year, isn't it? It was easily the
busiest year for Ghost Rider as a franchise but somehow Mackie told all
the Hag and Troll stories he wanted to tell.
It should be noted that when the Deathspawn were
introduced in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance I#4 they were a
bit different there than in the rest of the 'Spirits of Venom'
crossover - they're seen in a high-tech room full of monitors viewing
Hag and Troll's battle with Ghost Rider and holding a conversation
about getting involved, referring to someone who had given them
"orders." But in the rest of the crossover they're basically mindless
monsters and have no master (beyond Deathwatch) and certainly no
technology. It feels as though Mackie didn't know quite who the
Deathspawn were going to be when he introduced them and was writing the
story by the seat of his pants.
Pretty sure nowadays, Troll is that guy online who's always penning "Ghost Rider sux" messages online. Here's a sample of his handiwork.
Profile by Prime Eternal.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Troll has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Ghost Rider III#23, page 6, panel 5 (Troll, main image)
Ghost Rider III#23, page 9, panel 3 (Troll, Hag & Deathwatch)
Web of Spider-Man I#94, page 11, panel 1 (Troll extending his tentacles)
Appearances:
Ghost Rider III#23-24 (March-April, 1992) - Howard Mackie (writer), Mark Texeira (pencils/inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Web
of Spider-Man I#94 (November, 1992) - Howard Mackie (writer), Alex
Saviuk (pencils), Don Hudson (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #4 (November, 1992) - Howard
Mackie (writer), Adam Kubert (pencils), Art Adams (inks), Joe Kubert
(inks), Tom Mandrake (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Web of Spider-Man I#95 (December, 1992) - Howard Mackie (writer), Alex
Saviuk (pencils) Joe Rubinstein (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #5-7 (December, 1992-February,
1993) - Howard Mackie (writer), Adam Kubert (pencils), Bill Reinhold
(inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #9 (April, 1993) - Howard
Mackie (writer), Adam Kubert (pencils), Bill Reinhold (inks), Klaus
Janson (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
First Posted: 09/19/2018
Last updated: 09/19/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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