HEAVY HITTERSHEAVY HITTERS
Membership: Hardball (Roger Brokeridge), Nonstop, Telemetry;
formerly Gravity (Greg Willis), Outback (Fred Myers), Prodigy (Ritchie Gillmore), an unidentified Skrull
Purpose: To protect Nevada
Aliases: None
Affiliations: 3-D Man (Delroy Garrett, Jr.), Action Pack (Frog-Man/Eugene Patilio, Prima Donna, Vox), Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady),
Batwing
(Jimmy Santini), Butterball (Emery Schaub), the Cavalry (Red
Nine/Wallace Jackson, Stunt-Master/Steve Brooks, Thor Girl/Tarene,
Ultragirl/Suzy Sherman), Cloud 9 (Abby Boylen), Debrii (Deborah
Fields), Desert Stars (Johnny Cool, Komodo/Melati Kusuma,
Supermax, Two-Gun Kid/Matt Hawk), Enchantress,
Firestar (Angelica Jones), Geiger (Delilah Deerborn), Gravity
(Greg Willis), Jocasta, Justice (Vance Astrovik), Liberteens (2-D, Blue
Eagle, Iceberg), Melee, Night Thrasher (Donyell Taylor), the Order (Anthem/Henry Hellrung, Aralune/Becky Ryan,
Calamity/James Wa, Supernaut/Milo Fields, Veda/Maggie Neuntauben),
Point Men (Devil-Slayer/Eric Payne, Paydirt, Star Sign),
Prodigy (Richie Gillmore), Rage (Elvin Halliday), the Rangers (Living Lightning/Miguel Santos,
Phantom Rider/Hamilton Slade, Red Wolf/Will Talltrees, Shooting
Star/Victoria Star), Scarlet Spider (Michael), the Skrull Kill Krew (Catwalk, Dice, Moonstomp, Riot,
Ryder), Slapstick/Steve Harmon, Think Tank, Tigra (Greer Nelson), Whiz Kid;
formerly Norman Osborn
Enemies: Force of Nature (Aqueduct/Peter Van
Zante, Skybreaker/Aireo, Sunstreak/Andrea Roarke, Terraformer), Freedom
Force (Challenger/Bill Waring, Equinox/Terry Sorensen, Spinner), the
Hood's army (Brothers Grimm/Barton & Percy Grimes, Griffin/Johnny
Horton, Razor-Fist/Douglas Scott, Scorcher/Steven Hudak, others), Hydra
(Sen. Woodman, others), Juggernaut (Cain Marko), Norman Osborn,
Outback (Fred Myers), Shadow Initiative (Badd Axe, Ringer/Keith Kraft), Skrulls ("Equinox,"
others), Taskmaster, U-Foes (Ironclad/Mike Steel, Vapor/Ann Darnell,
Vector/Simon Utrecht), Zzzax;
formerly Cloud 9 (Abby Boylen), Hardball (Roger Brokeridge), Think Tank
Base of Operations: The Heavy Hitters Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
First Appearance: (mentioned only as an unidentified Initiative
team in Nevada): Avengers: The Initiative I#12 (June, 2008);
(fully seen & identified as the Heavy Hitters): Avengers: The Initiative I#17 (November, 2008)
History: (Avengers: The Initiative I#12 - BTS)
- When Hardball graduated his Fifty-State Initiative training, he was
assigned to the Heavy Hitters in Nevada.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#17) - During the alien Skrulls' secret invasion of Earth, 3-D Man and the Skrull Kill Krew met with Nevada's Heavy Hitters team to kill a disguised Skrull within their ranks. As the Skrull Kill Krew's Riot eviscerated the disguised Skrull, Gravity had the Heavy Hitters' speedster Nonstop get their injured teammate Telemetry to an emergency room before asking 3-D Man if he could get a Skrull-seeing upgrade to his own pair of goggles. 3-D Man explained how the goggles only work for someone infused with Tri-Force power as 3-D Man confirmed that Nonstop, Telemetry, Gravity himself and Hardball were all human and not Skrulls, prompting 3-D Man's ally Komodo to hug Hardball and remark that she knew who to trust.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#18) - With Telemetry and Nonstop gone, the Heavy Hitters Gravity and Hardball joined 3-D Man and the Skrull Kill Krew's quest to kill Skrull infiltrators in the various Initiative team, stopping in Montana to battle Freedom Force's Skrull infiltrator, one posing as the former villain Equinox. During the battle against the Skrull Equinox, Nonstop returned to her Heavy Hitters teammates and jumped in to rescue Freedom Force's Spinner while Gravity carried over Freedom Force member Think Tank to get medical attention. The Skrull soon downed all heroes present with a block of ice but the Skrull was killed by a sniper shot fired by Freedom Force member Cloud 9. Following the battle, Hardball reunited with his old Initiative teammate Cloud 9. Gravity later accompanied 3-D Man and others to Atlanta, Georgia, where they killed the Skrull impostor within their Initiative team, the Cavalry, before he teleported back to regroup with Hardball, Nonstop and the Heavy Hitters' other allies. After learning that the Skrulls planned to shunt the USA into the Negative Zone as a last resort, 3-D Man had the Heavy Hitter Nonstop, along with speedsters Whiz Kid and Spinner, carry explosives to destroy the Skrull pylons that would link to teleport the country into the Negative Zone. He then split all of the allies up into six teams to take down the Skrulls in the remaining Initiative teams, with Hardball joining up with the Skrull Kill Krew member Moonstomp and Gravity accompanying Cloud 9 and others.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#19) - The Heavy Hitters remained split up into various other team to take down the Skrull infiltrators in the other Initiative teams, with Hardball assisting against the Frog-Man Skrull in Kentucky while Gravity aided the Great Lakes Initiative against the Grasshopper Skrull in Wisconsin. Nonstop, on the other hand, helped to evacuate the Chandlers from their home as she prepared to blow up the western Skrull pylon. The team later regrouped to take on the remaining Skrulls alongside numerous other Initiative heroes. Soon joined by heroic Skrull Crusader, the Heavy Hitters and Initiative heroes eventually defeated the Skrulls but when 3-D Man saw through Crusader's human disguise, he assumed Crusader was another Skrull infiltrator and shot him, much to the shock of the Heavy Hitters.
(Avengers: The Initiative I Special#1) - When the
electromagnetic Zzzax attacked a dam on the border of Arizona and
Nevada, the Heavy Hitters and Arizona's Desert Stars were called in. As
Hardball and the Desert Stars' Komodo watched, the rest of the Heavy
Hitters and Desert Stars tripped over each other, failing to stop
Zzzax, until Komodo and Hardball managed to take down Zzzax on their
own. The next morning, Hardball took a leave of absence from the Heavy
Hitters, claiming he had to help his sick parents with his invalid
brother Paul. When Komodo discovered that Hardball was secretly working
for Hydra, she arranged for the Heavy Hitters to take Hydra down.
Hydra's Senator Woodman took a variant Lizard formula and transformed
into a giant lizard-like monster that rampaged through Las Vegas until
Hardball, angry at Woodman for being ordered around and angry at Komodo
for revealing his double agent status, trapped all of the Heavy Hitters
within energy balls. He then trapped Woodman in one as well and crushed
Woodman inside the ball. Hardball then announced that he was leaving
both Komodo and the Heavy Hitters, leaving the heroes in his energy
balls as he left with Hydra.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#25) - Following Norman
Osborn's takeover of the Initiative, he appointed Prodigy to the Heavy
Hitters and the team greeted Osborn and Prodigy as they arrived in
Nevada. Prodigy shook hands with the Heavy Hitters' team leader Gravity
and both admitted they looked forward to working together until Osborn
interrupted, revealing that Gravity had obviously not gotten the memo
that Prodigy would be replacing Gravity as team leader of the Heavy
Hitters. A shocked Gravity then asked where he would be sent and Osborn
revealed that Gravity would be sent to the Initiative team in Gravity's
home station of Wisconsin: the Great Lakes Initiative.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#28 (fb) - BTS) - After
the Initiative was taken over by the corrupt Norman Osborn, Nonstop
went AWOL from the Initiative and publicly said derogatory things about
the now-corrupt Initiative. She was soon replaced on the Heavy Hitters
by Outback (secretly the villain Boomerang).
(Avengers: The Initiative I#28) - The Heavy Hitters
tracked Nonstop to the desert and when Nonstop asked for them to leave
her alone, Outback reminded her that the Initiative was not like a gym
and she couldn't just leave when she decided to. Reminding Nonstop that
she had said some nasty things about the Initiative and had to face the
music, Outback asked Prodigy if he was going to act like a leader and
give the attack order but Prodigy attempted to reason with Nonstop
rather than resort to violence, asking Nonstop to calm down and return
to their headquarters to straighten everything out. When Nonstop
refused, claiming the Initiative had put the assassin Boomerang on the
Heavy Hitters, Boomerang reminded her that his codename was now Outback
and attacked Nonstop with an explosive boomerang. Knocked into the air
by the boomerang, Nonstop was saved by Telemetry, whom Prodigy had
ordered to halt the conflict before someone got hurt as reporters
arrived on the scene to record events. Nonstop asked why Telemetry had
used her powers against her, remarking how she thought they were
friends, and Telemetry apologized, commenting that she was still active
duty military and was under orders. The Heavy Hitters then talked to
the reporters, who asked if the attack was in result to Nonstop's
criticism of the Initiative's recent turn in direction. Outback
replied, claiming that Nonstop had been stealing profits from the Heavy
Hitters Hotel and Casino. Nonstop vehemently denied the accusations,
instead accusing Outback of stealing. The reporters then went to team
leader Prodigy, asking which accusations were true and, after a brief
pause, Prodigy outed Outback as the thief Boomerang. Boomerang quickly
asked if Prodigy had gone crazy but Prodigy announced that he would be
crazy to allow the ruse to go on any further. Knocking Boomerang out
with a punch, Prodigy publicly revealed that since Norman Osborn had
taken over the Initiative, he had been stocking the Initiative teams
with criminals and that the Heavy Hitters refused to be part of
Osborn's Initiative any longer. Prodigy then announced the Heavy
Hitters' secession from the Initiative on live television. The Heavy
Hitters then returned to their Las Vegas headquarters, where they were
attacked by the Initiative's Force of Nature team. When the Heavy
Hitters began to gain the upper hand, several villains employed by
Norman Osborn (as well as the heroic Freedom Force) arrived on the
scene to reinforce the Force of Nature's attack. While the combined
Osborn employees beat down the Heavy Hitters, the Avengers Resistance
arrived to help turn the tide. Unfortunately, both heroic groups were
soon overwhelmed and when the Avengers Resistance's Night Thrasher was
shot, Justice scooped up the remaining Avengers Resistance and Heavy
Hitters members in a telekinetic bubble and departed without Prodigy,
who chose to remain behind to face Osborn on his own. As Prodigy was
taken down by the assembled Osborn employees, the fleeing Heavy Hitters
and Avengers Resistance recorded the attack and posted it online. Once
in a Los Angeles safe house, Tigra gave Heavy Hitters Nonstop and
Telemetry contact info on Hank Pym, who would get them both out of the
country.
(Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#1 (fb) - BTS) -
Following Prodigy's incarceration, double agent and former leader
Hardball was reinstated as leader of the Heavy Hitters.
(Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#1) - Former Heavy
Hitters leader Gravity was convinced to attend an orientation speech by
fellow former Heavy Hitters leader Prodigy, who had been tasked by
Steve Rogers to restart the Initiative program. At the orientation, the
Heavy Hitters (with Hardball as leader) listened to Prodigy's speech
and afterwards, the Heavy Hitters mingled with the other young heroes
in attendance. As Telemetry caught up with Gravity, Hardball
interjected, remarking on Gravity's indecision, poor planning and
on-the-nose alias and prompting Gravity to respond by asking why
Hardball was not in a jail cell for his earlier betrayal of the Heavy
Hitters to Hydra. Hardball quickly reminded Gravity that he ran the
Heavy Hitters again but Gravity replied by asking if Hardball was
running the Heavy Hitters into the ground. Telemetry quickly broke up
the fight and Hardball went elsewhere to speak with his girlfriend
Komodo, whom he had recently reunited with.
(Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#2) - Heavy Hitters
Hardball and Telemetry (with Komodo) were sent to Las Vegas to help
quell the rioting that had ensued following the arrival on Earth of the
Asgardian Serpent and his followers. After the Heavy Hitters nearly had
to establish martial law to keep the civilians calm, Telemetry reported
back to Hardball with a communication from new Initiative and former
Heavy Hitters leader Prodigy, who informed the Heavy Hitters and Komodo
that the Serpent's follower Juggernaut was heading towards Las Vegas.
(Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#3) - Nonstop reunited with the other Heavy Hitters and other arriving heroes including Rage and Debrii in preparation for the impending battle against Juggernaut. Once assembled, the Heavy Hitters had Telemetry keep an eye on the approaching Juggernaut as he continued his trek towards Las Vegas. Telemetry soon reported that Juggernaut had stopped and appeared to be grinning. When Juggernaut then began running to attack the Heavy Hitters and their allies, Hardball had Nonstop intercept Juggernaut and distract him long enough for a crater to be created by Debrii beneath Juggernaut, which he fell into. Juggernaut soon emerged from the crater and his battle with the Heavy Hitters and their allies eventually moved into the main city area of Las Vegas, where Hardball attempted to boost Juggernaut out of the city, only to succeed in moving Juggernaut a short distance away. Hardball immediately had Nonstop check on where Juggernaut landed and Nonstop quickly returned to report that Juggernaut had landed near an area where civilians had been evacuated to. Engaging Juggernaut once, the Heavy Hitters and their allies attempted to clear out as many civilians as possible before Hardball began charging up an explosive energy sphere and warned the other heroes to get everyone out within ten seconds. Komodo got as many civilians out as possible as Hardball seemingly sacrificed himself to stop Juggernaut. Unfortunately, Juggernaut survived the explosion, which destroyed the local Las Vegas area, leaving Hardball among the ruins.
(Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#4) - Surviving, Hardball was confronted by Komodo, who reminded him of the civilians lost in the blast before leaving to help others, unable to deal with Hardball's cold nature. The other assembled heroes argued about whether the loss of life was acceptable to get Juggernaut out of Las Vegas, with Heavy Hitter Nonstop defending her team leader Hardball to Debrii, who felt no lives were worth the damage. Before Hardball could continue explaining himself, former Heavy Hitters leader Gravity arrived and attacked Hardball, their battle causing tremors that Telemetry noted were only further destabilizing Las Vegas while she continued rescuing civilians from the damage caused by Hardball's earlier blast. While Hardball and Gravity's battle escalated, Telemetry patched through nine networks to reach Prodigy, who ordered to stop the two fighters and Telemetry agreed they had to be stopped. Before she could stop the fight, however, Hardball retaliated from one of Gravity's attacks and the two heroes' powers colliding caused a massive earthquake that rocked Las Vegas.
(Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#5) - As the earthquake ravaged Las Vegas, the Heavy Hitters Hotel and Casino, headquarters of the Heavy Hitters, violently shook as the Heavy Hitters' Telemetry tended to the injured Hardball and her allies. Prodigy soon arrived and demanded to know if Hardball and Gravity were still alive and when a nervous Telemetry mumbled, Prodigy harshly repeated himself, prompting Telemetry to report no major injuries. While Prodigy worked with Telemetry, the heroic Ultragirl rescued the injured Heavy Hitter Nonstop, who had been pinned beneath a damaged pillar, possibly breaking her legs. The panicked Nonstop asked Ultragirl to stop moving the pillar, as it was hurting, but Ultragirl quickly reminded Nonstop that if she didn't move the pillar, Nonstop could die from her injuries. Despite the battle between Hardball and Gravity ending, the quake continued shaking Las Vegas, eventually destroying the Heavy Hitters Hotel and Casino. Regaining consciousness and realizing his home was now destroyed, Hardball watched the Hotel and Casino tumble as Gravity also regained consciousness and Prodigy ordered Hardball and Gravity to accompany Telemetry underground to fix the shifting tectonic plates. With Nonstop still injured, the remaining Heavy Hitters Hardball and Telemetry ventured underground as ordered, where Hardball and Gravity combined their powers in an attempt to halt the earthquake.
(Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#6) - Trapped
underground without oxygen inside a Telemetry-created box at the risk
of not containing the earthquake if they left, the remaining Heavy
Hitters were ultimately freed when fellow young hero Thor Girl
transformed into the Designate and pulled them above ground, repairing
the tectonic plates as she departed Earth into space. Once completely
above ground, Telemetry dispersed the energy box and the Heavy Hitters
were safe, with Hardball reuniting with his girlfriend Komodo. Taking a
moment to understand what Thor Girl had done, the remaining Heavy
Hitters joined the other surviving heroes in helping clean up the
damage to Las Vegas and rescue any survivors.
Comments: Created by Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage and Steve Uy.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Heavy Hitters has no known connections to:
The Heavy Hitters Hotel and Casino was the headquarters for the Heavy Hitters in Las Vegas, Nevada, where each of the Heavy Hitters resided. When Boomerang was assigned to the Heavy Hitters under the alias of Outback, he promoted the Casino part of the headquarters to the media to boost the money coming into the casino and Hardball eventually resumed leadership of the Heavy Hitters, returning to his living space there. After a battle between Hardball and Gravity caused a massive earthquake to shake Las Vegas, the Heavy Hitters Hotel and Casino was destroyed in the quake.
The Heavy Hitters Hotel and Casino was equipped with spacious living quarters for the Heavy Hitters and also functioned as an actual hotel with numerous rooms for guests to stay in. It also housed a casino with heavily-advertised "loose" slot machines.
--Avengers: The Initiative I#28 (mentioned) (#29, Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#5d,
images: (without ads)
Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#3, p2, pan2 (Heavy Hitters, with Hardball as leader, action shot, main image)
Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#1, p10-11, splash page (Heavy Hitters, with Hardball as leader)
Avengers: The Initiative I#25, p18, pan1 (Heavy Hitters from behind, with Gravity as leader)
Avengers: The Initiative I#28, p1, pan3 (Heavy Hitters with Outback)
Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#5, p2, pan3 (Heavy Hitters Hotel & Casino)
Appearances:
Avengers: The Initiative I#12 (June, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos N.
Gage (writers), Steve Uy (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#17 (November, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos N.
Gage (writers), Harvey Tolibao (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#18 (December, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos N.
Gage (writers), Steve Kurth (pencils), Drew Hennessy (inks), Tom
Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#19 (January, 2009) - Dan Slott, Christos N.
Gage (writers), Harvey Talibao, Bong Dozo (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I Special#1 (January, 2009) - "The Real Thing"
story - Christos N. Gage (writer), Steve Uy (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#25 (August, 2009) - Christos N. Gage (writer), Humberto Ramos (art), Jeanine Schaeffer (editor)
Avengers:
The Initiative I#28 (November, 2009) - Christos N. Gage (writer), Rafa
Sandoval (pencils), Roger Bonet (inks), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#1 (July, 2011) - Sean McKeever (writer), Mike Norton (art), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#2 (August, 2011) - Sean McKeever (writer), Mike Norton (art), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#3 (September, 2011) - Sean McKeever (writer), Mike Norton (art), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#4 (October, 2011) - Sean McKeever (writer), Mike Norton (art), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#5 (November, 2011) - Sean McKeever (writer), Mike Norton (art), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt#6 (December, 2011) - Sean McKeever (writer), Mike Norton (art), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
First Posted: 11/27/2018
Last updated: 11/27/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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