CHOKE

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Mascot

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None;
    formerly Houston Jets

Enemies: Justice (Vance Astrovik), Scarlet Spider (Kaine Parker)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Choke the Bear, Clutch (see comments)

Base of Operations: Houston, Texas;
    formerly Mexico

First Appearance: (Mentioned) Scarlet Spider II#12.1 (February, 2013);
    (on-panel) New Warriors V#9 (September, 2014)

Powers/Abilities: Choke was immensely strong and massive, and could fire energy beams from the eyes of his suit. However, his suit had the durability of an extremely large mascot costume.

Height: (Choke) 100'; (human) unrevealed
Weight: (Choke) Thousands of tons; (human) unrevealed
Eyes: (Choke) Solid black; (human) brown
Hair:(Choke) Brown fur; (human) blonde

History:
(New Warriors V#9 (fb)) - Choke was the costumed mascot of the Houston Jets basketball team. During the third quarter of a preseason game against Dallas, a strange alien meteorite hit the Jets' stadium, blasting Choke and making his mascot suit grow to an enormous size.

(Scarlet Spider II#12.1 (fb) / Scarlet Spider II#16 (fb) / New Warriors V#9 (fb)) - Choke brought his "court-side antics" to all of Houston, causing mass chaos and destruction. The police were powerless to stop him, and eventually Choke found that, without a rival, he was getting bored. He left the city, and wandered off to Mexico for several years.

(Scarlet Spider II#12.1 - BTS / Scarlet Spider II#16 - BTS) - Choke's actions were spoken of for years in Houston only with hushed whispers, as the citizens were too traumatized to discuss it further.

(New Warriors V#9 (fb)) - Learning that the Scarlet Spider had become the city's new super hero, he began to make his way back to the city, excited to finally have a rival.

(New Warriors V#9) - Choke rampaged through Houston, eventually finding the Scarlet Spider (who had actually left Houston, and had just recently and unwillingly returned) and his New Warriors teammate Justice. He attacked them, claiming that Houston was his town, and explaining his origins. The Spider decided to settle their conflict by leaving town, much to Justice's surprise. Choke decided that Justice would be an adequate rival, instead, and blasted him with his eyebeams. He overwhelmed Justice's telekinetic shield, and was prepared to eat him when the Spider, having changed his mind, rescued his teammate. Justice tossed the Scarlet Spider at their foe, smashing one of his eyes and entangling him with his webbing. He used his claws to tear open Choke's stomach, revealing that he was just a big mascot costume with a normal-sized human inside. Justice used his telekinesis to tear apart the entire costume, leaving only its powerless human operator lying in the street amidst a giant pile of stuffing and artificial fur. He claimed that he'd only wanted to entertain people, and the Spider webbed him up and left him for the police.

Comments: Created by Christopher Yost and Tana Ford.

In Scarlet Spider II#12.1 and #16, Houston residents mention someone named "Clutch" in ominous terms. Clutch is the actual mascot for the Houston Rockets, and looks remarkably similar to Choke - understandably, you can't have another company's mascot portrayed as a villain in a Marvel Comic, so the name change is understandable.

It was pretty amusing that the Clutch spoken of in ominous whispers was actually a dangerously mischievous pro sports mascot.

This profile was completed 7/13/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Minor Irritant.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Choke, aka Clutch, kaiju-sized mascot, has no known connections to:


images: (without ads)
New Warriors V#9, p5, pan1 (main image)
New Warriors V#9, p18, pan5 (human)


Appearances:
Scarlet Spider II#12.1 (February, 2013) - Chris Yost (writer), Paulo Siqueira & Neil Edwards (pencils), Victor Olazaba & Tom Palmer (inks), Tom Brennan (editor)
Scarlet Spider II#16 (June, 2013) - Chris Yost (writer), Khoi Pham (pencils), Terry Pallot & Victor Olazaba (inks), Tom Brennan (editor)

New Warriors V#9 (September, 2014) - Chris Yost (writer), Tana Ford (art), Devin Lewis (editor)


First Posted: 09/26/2021
Last updated: 09/25/2021

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!
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