THE MARVEL
Real Name: Mark Hawkins
Identity/Class: Human; possible depowered mutant see comments
Occupation: None; adventurer in his own delusion/world
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Tom Bohan, Detectives Nick Ezell and John Curtis
Enemies: Dr. Zialus
Known Relatives: Vicky Hawkins (wife)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: X-Men Unlimited II#13/2 (April, 2006)
Powers/Abilities: Mark Hawkins was a regular human without any superhuman abilities, he however, suffered from a severe case of delusion. Creating a world of his own consisting of friends, family and foes he thought of himself. In his delusion, Mark became the Marvel, dressed in a caped uniform the Marvel possessed superhuman strength and the ability to fly.
Height: 5'11" (by approximation)
Weight: 170 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Grey; formerly Blond
History:
(X-Men Unlimited II#13/2 - BTS) - Mark Hawkins, a regular American joe suffered from delusions. As such he imagined himself to live in a world of his own creation, Mark no longer witnessed or knew anything about real world events or heroes like Captain America. In his perfect world Mark became the crime fighting Marvel. Dressed in a caped uniform Marvel possessed superhuman strength and the ability to fly.
(X-Men Unlimited II#13/2 (fb) ) - To keep his superhero identity a secret he became a dashing reporter for the Daily Globe newspaper. As a superhero Marvel would regularly come face to face with archnemesis Dr. Zialus. During once such event Marvel met Vicki, the damsel in distress he saved from the villain. Marvel and Vicki became romantically involved and Marvel even revealed his true identity to the girl. Less than a year later they were married on July 14th, 1962.
(X-Men Unlimited II#13/2 (fb) - BTS) - After several years Marvel once again fought Dr. Zialus who now had a mighty robot army. Only barely winning the fight Vicki urged Marvel to retire, something which he agreed to.
(X-Men Unlimited II#13/2 (fb) - BTS) - Forty-three years of marriage later Mark was basking in the glory of his younger years as he enjoyed reading old news clips from the Daily Globe. During one night they had their neighbor Tom Bohan over for dinner.
(X-Men Unlimited II#13/2) - The following night Vicki called Mark for dinner. He was on his way when the Earth was suddenly hit by the Scarlet Witch's reality altering spell which reduced the mutant population to a shadow of what it used to be. As by chance or even a possible side effect of the spell, Mark was suddenly thrust back into the real world out from his delusion. Waking up in an empty house Mark quickly panicked, unable to find Vicki he assumed Dr. Zialus had finally found them. Unable to access his secret lair in the basement of the house he quickly went outside, using a shovel in an effort to dig his way into his lair.
(X-Men Unlimited II#13/2) - Mark's screams hadn't gone unnoticed as two detectives Nick Ezell and John Curtis soon arrived at the house to investigate. Highly stressed, Mark pleaded the detectives to let him continue digging the hole as he'd about reached his secret lair beneath the house and even hit one of them in the face with the shovel after the detective tried to stop him. Taken in to the local police station Mark was subjected to a thorough questioning to determine what was in fact going on. Realizing Mark was delusional they confronted him with facts from the real world as there had never been a Vicky, not even a birth certificate. They also explained Tom Bohan wasn't real as he didn't have a neighbor for over ten years and his home had been in arrears for decades. Determined Mark had suffered a psychotic breakdown it was decided he would go to a psychiatric hospital. Enraged, Mark was unable to stay quiet any longer, shouting it all had to be a trick, deeming the detectives agents of Dr. Zialus who'd taken his Vicky. Just as Mark was taken away news dropped that the mutant population had been decimated due to a reality altering spell by the Scarlet Witch. Detectives Nick Ezell and John Curtis looked at each other, wondering if there could've been any truth to Mark's story but quickly dismissed it.
(X-Men Unlimited II#13/2 (fb) - BTS) - Mark was placed in a psychiatric hospital. At first all he would talk about was his wife, but after a few days he shut down. The hospital's doctor's believed he'd made everything up, all part of his delusion wanting to be a superhero. After a while Mark stopped speaking and barely ate, just sitting in his chair and staring out the window. Mark had in fact returned to his delusion/world to be with his Vicky.
(X-Men Unlimited II#13/2) - Back in his living room Mark was reading a paper when Vicky called dinner was almost ready. Mark then went to his basement, where now his secret lair wasn't there anymore but instead a storage room where he grabbed a can of beans as they would be perfect for the roast.
Comments: Created by Damon Hurd (writer), Clay Mann (pencils), Mark Pennington (inks).
X-Men Unlimited II#13/2 was an interesting little story where you as a reader question whether Mark Hawkins was in fact a mutant, depowered by the Scarlet Witch's reality altering spell or a man suffering from delusion. But seeing as Mark re-entered his world after being hospitalized I would say it was a delusion. It seemed that when Mark re-entered his world instead of a secret lair in the basement was now a regular old storage room. But with an unlimited amount of worlds in the Multiverse it's not unthinkable there would be a world where Mark was indeed the Marvel!
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Marvel has no known connections to
Part of Mark Hawkins' delusion, Tom Bohan was the neighbor of Mark and Vicky.
--X-Men Unlimited II#13/2 - BTS
Part of Mark Hawkins' delusion, Dr. Zialus was the Marvel's archnemesis. During one of their battles Dr. Zialus used a super magnet to draw a meteor down to Earth, he'd also kidnapped Vicki in the hopes of distracting the Marvel. The Marvel, however, grabbed Vicki with whom in his embrace he bursted through the meteor, stopping Dr. Zialus. Several years later Dr. Zialus built a robot army to exact his revenge on the Marvel who barely survived their encounter.
--X-Men Unlimited II#13/2
Part of Mark Hawkins' delusion, Vicky was the damsel in distress the Marvel rescued from Dr. Zialus' clutches. Marvel and Vicki became romantically involved and Marvel even revealed his true identity to the girl. Less than a year later they were married on July 14th, 1962. When the Marvel barely survived a battle against Dr. Zialus' robot army she urged him to retire, which he did. Mark and Vicky enjoyed forty-three years of happy marriage.
--X-Men Unlimited II#13/2
Nick Ezell was a real-life detective and partner of John Curtis. The duo met Mark Hawkins while investigating a disturbance call, when Nick was hit in the face with a shovel after stopping the man from digging a hole next to his house they brought him in for questioning. During the thorough questioning the detectives determined Mark Hawkins was delusional, making up a world in which he was the costumed adventurer the Marvel, married to Vicky, a woman who'd never existed. Just as Mark was taken away to a psychiatric hospital, Nick and John witnessed the news as it appeared the mutant population had been decimated due to a reality altering spell by the Scarlet Witch. Detectives Nick and John looked at each other, wondering if there could've been any truth to Mark's story but quickly dismissed it.
--X-Men Unlimited II#13/2
John Curtis was a real-life detective and partner of Nick Ezell. The duo met Mark Hawkins while investigating a disturbance call, when Nick was hit in the face with a shovel after stopping the man from digging a hole next to his house they brought him in for questioning. During the thorough questioning the detectives determined Mark Hawkins was delusional, making up a world in which he was the costumed adventurer the Marvel, married to Vicky, a woman who'd never existed. Just as Mark was taken away to a psychiatric hospital, Nick and John witnessed the news as it appeared the mutant population had been decimated due to a reality altering spell by the Scarlet Witch. Detectives Nick and John looked at each other, wondering if there could've been any truth to Mark's story but quickly dismissed it.
--X-Men Unlimited II#13/2
Vincent Pettine was one of the many millions of homo superior who lost their powers when a reality altering spell cast by the Scarlet Witch reduced the number of gene active mutants to a mere 300 worldwide. When XNN reported on the worldwide phenomenon they showed footage of Pettine as one who lost his abilities.
--X-Men Unlimited II#13/2
images: (without ads)
X-Men Unlimited II#13, p11, pan1 (main image)
X-Men Unlimited II#13, p10, pan4 (facing Dr. Zialus)
X-Men Unlimited II#13, p13, pan3,4,5 (back to reality)
X-Men Unlimited II#13, p10, pan2 (Dr. Zialus)
X-Men Unlimited II#13, p12, pan3 (Dr. Zialus robot army)
X-Men Unlimited II#13, p10, pan6 (Vicky)
X-Men Unlimited II#13, p14, pan5 (Nick Ezell)
X-Men Unlimited II#13, p17, pan2 (John Curtis)
X-Men Unlimited II#13, p18, pan4 (Vincent Pettine)
Appearances:
X-Men Unlimited II#13/2 (April, 2006) - Damon Hurd (writer), Clay Mann (pencils), Mark Pennington (inks), Warren Simons, Michael O'Connor (editors)
First Posted: 09/24/2019
Last Updated: 09/24/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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