BRADLEY MARTINBRADLEY MARTIN
Real Name: Bradley Martin
Identity/Class: Human, conventional and high-tech weapons-user
Occupation: Unrevealed;
former sheriff
Group Membership: Formerly Jude police department
Affiliations: Dr. Benway and his creations, his assistant Li, and Benway's unidentified henchmen
Enemies: Arizona State Patrol (see comments), Hulk (Bruce Banner), (indirectly) Scotty McDowell, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Captain Alexander Walsh (LAPD)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: At least formerly Jude, New Mexico
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up I#97 (September, 1980)
Powers/Abilities:
Bradley Martin had no superhuman powers. He was an experienced
policeman and sheriff, and while he may have stammered a bit in the
process, was willing to stand his ground and order away the Hulk armed
only with a handgun.
A skilled marksman, he also was experienced with using Dr.
Benway's hand-held nerve-paralyzer pistol/blaster. Although she
had gained some resistance/immunity from Benway's earlier blasts,
Sheriff Martin later struck her
with a more powerful dose that stunned her long enough to leave her at
his
mercy.
Martin is shown using the nerve-paralyzer in the main image and here.
Height: Unrevealed (he was never shown in direct relationship to anyone of
known height; he didn't seem particularly tall or short, but perhaps a couple inches taller than Benway, so perhaps
5'10" to 6'2")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 180 to 220 lbs.)
Eyes: Dark (they looked perhaps blue in one panel)
Hair: Orange-red (auburn?), including mustache
History:
(Marvel
Team-Up I#97 (fb) - BTS) - Based out of a clinic in his villa near Jude,
New Mexico, Dr. W. Lee Benway lured criminals to him under the pretext of getting
them across the border (to Mexico, presumably).
He then harvested their brains, which he transferred into his
creations. To finance his operations, he sold his victims' remaining
organs on the black market.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97 (fb) - BTS) <Two years before the main story> - Dr. Benway began bribing Jude's Sheriff Bradley Martin to ignore his activities and to report significant events to him.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97 (fb) - BTS) - While working as a bounty hunter, Spider-Woman sought to collect Johnny Yen, wanted for three counts of murder by the Los Angeles Police Department. Via her intelligence gathering expert, Scotty McDowell, Jessica Drew followed his trail via bus to Jude, New Mexico.
(Marvel
Team-Up I#97 (fb) - BTS) - Spider-Woman had the LAPD's Captain Walsh
contact Sheriff Bradley to inform him that a bounty hunter would be
coming to see him.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97) - After the Hulk arrived in Jude, New Mexico (see comments), Sheriff Martin confronted him alongside a pair of deputies, telling the Hulk to come along quietly and not give him or his men any trouble or they would shoot. The Hulk argued that he had only come looking for food, but that the men in funny hats waving guns at him were making him mad. After warning the Hulk not to move, Martin shot him to no effect (it's not 100% clear whether the Hulk moved or Martin just fired on him). Annoyed, the Hulk punched the ground, shattering the road, knocking Martin off his feet, and then left Martin in the rubble. Annoyed when one of his deputies voiced what had just happened, Martin ordered his met to get in their cars, follow him, and report his position: "When he stops, we'll go in and nab him."
When of the deputies started to argue the futility of such an effort, but the other one told him not to argue with the sheriff when he had a mad-on. The second deputy told the first that they would just watch the Hulk from a safe distance until the sheriff cooled down and called them back in.
Sheriff Martin subsequently reported the Hulk's presence to Dr. Benway, who -- having long sought to create a being that could survive a nuclear blast -- noted that the sheriff had finally earned his pay.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97) - Dr. Benway then assembled his men and used a pleasure ray to turn the Hulk back into Banner and then capture him.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97) - Spider-Woman met with Sheriff Martin, who was surprised that the bounty hunter he had been told about was a "girl." After correcting him that she was Spider-WOMAN, she told him she needed his help and asked if he had seen Johnny Yen -- whose crimes she detailed -- around town, and Martin -- presumably realizing Yen was under Benway's "care" -- told her that he thought he had seen Yen in town for a few days but that he had headed up to a clinic that one of "their doctors" held in his villa. After she thanked him and asked where the villa was located, he gave her directions and told her there was no need for thanks as he was as interested in justice as she was.
Martin then called Dr. Benway, advising him to tell his guards to stay on their toes, as he had super-powered company on the way.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97 - BTS) - Dr. Benway dropped Spider-Woman with a blast from his nerve-paralyzer.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97 (fb) - BTS) - Sheriff Martin arrived as Benway's agents placed Spider-Woman in a pit and shackled her arms to the wall.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97) - Martin stood by Benway as he greeted the reviving Spider-Woman before blasting her again and telling his creatures to rip her to shreds if she gave them any trouble.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97 (fb) - BTS) - Martin accompanied Benway as he prepared to lobotomize Bruce Banner.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97 - BTS) - Having acquired some resistance to the second blast via her immunity power, Spider-Woman escaped the pit and engaged Benway's creations.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97) - One of Benway's creatures knocked Spider-Woman into the room containing Benway, Martin, Li, and Banner. Although not recognizing Banner, Spider-Woman nonetheless considered anyone as undeserving of being the fodder of Dr. Benway's experiments, and she broke his restraints and fled with him...unfortunately, she fled into a dead end closet.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97 - BTS) - Spider-Woman began slapping Banner to wake him up so he could flee on foot while she fought off Benway and his creatures. These slaps not only awakened Banner, but stimulated him into transforming into the Hulk, who struck back. Spider-Woman dodged his strike, but he smashed through wall back into the chamber containing Benway and his creatures.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97 - BTS) - Feeling things were getting out of control, Spider-Woman called Captain
Walsh, told him her location, and asked him to call the Arizona
State Patrol and send them there immediately. Walsh recognized the name
of Dr. Benway and complied after Spider-Woman explained that he local
sheriff had been bought off.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97) - Considering the whole project wasted, Dr. Benway fled on foot with Sheriff Martin, Li, and a few other henchmen. Spider-Woman caught up and blasted Benway unconscious.
Possessing one of Benway's nerve-paralyzer blasters and having set it to kill her, Sheriff Martin knocked Spider-Woman out of the air, leaving her stunned and barely able to move. Surprised she was still alive, Martin prepared to deliver another blast at point blank.
However, the Hulk knocked over a shelf full of chemicals in Benway's clinic that caused an explosion, shrapnel from which knocked out Sheriff Martin.
(Marvel Team-Up I#97 - BTS) - After Spider-Woman took out the rest of Benway's agents, the Arizona State Patrol showed up to arrest Benway and his associates.
Comments: Created by Steven Grant, Carmine Infantino, and Alan Gordon.
The introductory text on pg. 1 identifies the town as Jude, New Mexico,
while Spider-Woman has Captain Walsh call in the Arizona State Patrol.
I don't think Jude is a real city in New Mexico or Arizona (every
search just brings up St. Jude locations), but maybe it is near enough
to the western border of New Mexico that Benway's villa, which was 10
miles north of Jude, is just west enough that it's in Arizona?
Or did I miss something that clarified that?
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Bradley Martin should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Marvel Team-Up I#97 (September, 1980) - Steven Grant (writer), Carmine Infantino (penciler), Alan Gordon (inker), Dennis O'Neil (editor).
First posted: 12/03/2021
Last updated: 12/03/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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