Wizard | |
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The Wizard. Art by Leinil Francis Yu. |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Strange Tales #102 (Nov 1962) |
Created by | Stan Lee Larry Lieber Jack Kirby |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Bentley Wittman |
Team affiliations | Frightful Four Intelligencia |
Notable aliases | The Wingless Wizard |
Abilities |
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The Wizard (born Bentley Wittman), also known as the Wingless Wizard, is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. His first appearance was in Strange Tales #102 and was created as an enemy for the Human Torch.
Contents |
Fictional character biography
Bentley Wittman grew up possessing near-superhuman levels of genius and was a child prodigy and chess champion. As an adult, he became an inventor of great renown, selling his futuristic inventions to the wealthy and becoming quite rich. He became known as the Wizard by legally assuming this stage name and using his advanced scientific inventions to perform feats of "magic" as a stage magician and escape artist.
Intellectually bored, however, he decided to become a professional criminal and defeat Johnny Storm, who had just appeared to the world as the Human Torch. Pretending to be a victim by pretending his attempt to use a new drill had gone wrong and he was trapped, he was rescued by the Torch and invited him to his high-tech, futuristic mansion on Long Island where he captured the Torch with ease by pretending to take a three-dimensional photo, but really squirting a liquid onto the Torch. The Wizard then impersonated the Torch, launching a crime spree to destroy the Torch's reputation, before being captured by the Fantastic Four and sent to prison.[1]
The Wizard had a rematch with the Human Torch before long, escaping from prison using a chemical which melted through stone.[2] With Paste-Pot Pete, he battled the Torch again,[3] and the Wizard captured the Torch and the Invisible Girl.[4] The conclusion of one encounter with the Torch sent him flying uncontrollably upward by one of his anti-gravity discs, unable to descend safely. He was rescued by two other adversaries of the Torch: the Sandman and Paste-Pot Pete (soon after renamed the Trapster).[volume & issue needed] After he suggested they team up, a suggestion by the Trapster inspired him to form a team that would be a criminal counterpart to the Fantastic Four, with himself, his two rescuers, and Medusa, who was then suffering from amnesia; becoming the Frightful Four.[5]
The Frightful Four proved to be one of the most formidable menaces that the Fantastic Four had yet encountered. The Frightful Four raided the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters, and affixed the Wizard's anti-gravity discs to the four - minus Johnny, but with Alicia Masters, who managed to alert the Torch with the Invisible Girl's flare gun. Johnny soon appeared and forced the Wizard to use his anti-grav ship to free his team members before they floated into airless space. Then, together they beat the Frightful Four until the Wizard and the Sandman exploded the Wizard's ship as a distraction, and escaped.[5] Later, kidnapping the Invisible Girl, they lured the Fantastic Four to a Pacific atoll where they rigged an experimental "Q-bomb" to detonate. The Fantastic Four narrowly escaped.[6] Weeks later, the Frightful Four made their third attempt. Capturing the Thing, the Wizard used his "id machine" to simulate the Thing's natural tendencies toward violence and brainwash him into obeying the Wizard's commands. The Fantastic Four finally managed to subdue the Frightful Four, then all but Medusa were turned over to the authorities.[7]
In his continued quest to crush the Fantastic Four, the Wizard has tried many iterations of the Frightful Four and has very rarely operated outside the Frightful Four. The Wizard engineered the Sandman's escape from prison, and provided him with a design for a new costume.[8] With the Trapster and Sandman, he battled Medusa.[9] He formed a partnership with Mysterio, and they battled the Torch and Spider-Man, but were foiled by Spider-Man.[10] He battled the Fantastic Four alone,[11] and later battled them once again with the Frightful Four.[12] With the Trapster and Sandman, he invaded the Fantastic Four headquarters, where they encountered Annihilus.[13] The Wizard replaced Medusa with Thundra in the Frightful Four, and they battled the Fantastic Four and Medusa.[14] However, Thundra, also ended up betraying him and allying herself with the Fantastic Four as Medusa did.[15] With the Trapster and Sandman, the Wizard battled the Fantastic Four again.[16] The Wizard, Trapster, and Sandman eventually captured the Fantastic Four, and recruited the Brute (Reed Richards of the original Counter-Earth) into the Frightful Four.[17] With the Frightful Four, the Wizard later captured Spider-Man and Namor.[18] The Wizard later teamed up with the Plantman, helping him to escape prison and providing him a vehicle and equipment,[19] but then ran into a conflict with the Avengers.[20] With the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master, the Wizard attempted to disrupt the wedding of the Human Torch and Alicia Masters (Lyja in disguise).[21] The Wizard also captured the Thing and Franklin Richards in an attempt to use them against the Fantastic Four.[22]
When the Sandman appeared to give up his life of crime, the Wizard formed a new Frightful Four with Hydro-Man, Klaw, and Titania. They invaded Fantastic Four headquarters, but sided with the real Fantastic Four against the Fantastic Four clones created by Aron the Watcher.[23] The Wizard later engineered a mass breakout from the Vault.[24] He was later broken out of prison by Loki to join the inner circle of villains organizing the Acts of Vengeance against the Avengers.[25] He freed the Brothers Grimm from prison, and sent them against Spider-Man.[26] With the Mandarin, he then battled the Avengers.[27] However, he then inadvertently led the Avengers to the criminals' base.[28] The Wizard eventually escaped Ryker's Island Prison.[29] With the Trapster, he was also defeated by the reformed Sandman.[30] Often avoiding the limelight that he once embraced, the Wizard hoped to hide from authorities using his former name Bentley Wittman. He was found by the Thunderbolts, however, who convinced the Wizard to provide anti-gravity discs in order for them to battle Graviton,[volume & issue needed] and later, to attach to the Magneto Protocol Satellites.[volume & issue needed] Later still, when the Sandman had appeared to reform his criminal ways, the Wizard took it upon himself to subject his former ally to his id machine, re-integrating the Sandman's mind and restoring him to villainy.[volume & issue needed]
Finally, when the Fantastic Four's popularity reached an all-time low, the Wizard decided it was time to re-form the Frightful Four once more. No longer motivated by petty jealousy, the Wizard believed the Fantastic Four to be the source of all his troubles, his fall from grace.[volume & issue needed] He rescued the Trapster from the Negative Zone, boosted the powers of Hydro-Man, and called upon his ex-wife, Salamandra, to round out the Frightful Four.[volume & issue needed] He also manipulated Cole, his and Salamandra's daughter, to develop a relationship with the Human Torch in order to teleport to her and bypass the Fantastic Four's defenses.[volume & issue needed] During the resulting battle, the Wizard turned on the Trapster, revealing that he intended Cole to be the next member of the Frightful Four. When the Frightful Four defeated the heroes, the Wizard flaunted his success on television and left them humiliated.[volume & issue needed] However, when the Wizard admitted that he only wanted to include Cole once he saw her exhibit superhuman powers, she turned on him. She sought out the Fantastic Four to lead them back to her father and to try to find a cure for her powers. The Wizard and Cole confronted each other, and Cole used one of the Trapster's traps to ensnare her father, then used her powers over gravity to bring the Wizard's lair down around him.[volume & issue needed]
Wizard plays a small role in the "Secret War" crossover event allied with Lucia von Bardas and other B-List supervillains. He has since returned, alive and well, in Fantastic Four #546, with a Frightful Five (himself, Titania, Trapster, Hydro-Man, and Klaw).
The Wizard is among the characters recruited in The Hood's syndicate of villains.[31] He is then seen in a blue uniform reminiscent of his original outfit.[32] He helped them fight the New Avengers but was taken down by Doctor Strange.[volume & issue needed] In Secret Invasion, he is one among many of supervillains who rejoined The Hood's crime syndicate and attacked a Skrull force.[33] He joins with the Hood's gang in an attack on the New Avengers, who were expecting the Dark Avengers instead.[34]
Wizard later appeared as a member of the Intelligencia.[35][36] Along with a new Frightful Four, the Wizard attacks the Baxter Building to capture Reed Richards. While the Red Hulk, who came to stop the villains, is distracted by the Thing and an open portal to the Negative Zone, Reed is captured.[volume & issue needed]
He is committed to the P.A.V.L.O.V. Metahuman Psychiatric Facility, following the events of World War Hulks. Reed Richards visits the Wizard there, and informs him that Whitman's clone is in the care of Richards' family.[37] Later, after the death of the Human Torch and the reformation of the Fantastic Four as the Future Foundation, rogue agents of A.I.M break the Wizard out of the P.A.V.L.O.V. facility. [38]
Powers and abilities
Wittman is a scientific genius with Ph.Ds in several sciences, particularly in the fields of applied physics and sub-atomic particles. He has constructed a number of devices which he employs in his criminal activities:
- His anti-gravity discs can lift several hundred pounds each, and can be remotely controlled via relays in his armor. These give him the ability to fly, which is, contrary to popular belief, accomplished without wings. He was able to create a basic one using prison workshop materials.
- His gauntlets (alternatively referred to as Power Gloves or Wonder Gloves) can unleash potent electrical blasts or use directed gravitational fields to increase his strength. The strength he can gain from his Wonder Gloves is unknown. When he constructed one for Imus Champion in an appropriate size, the villain was able to hurt both Thor and Hyperion in battle.
- His body armor provides him with protection from assault, and devices in his helmet allow him to control the minds of others.
In addition to being a scientist and engineer, Wittman is also a talented stage magician, escape artist, and master of disguise.
Other versions
Bentley 23
An adolescent clone (in the mainstream 616 universe) of the Wizard, that was rescued from a super robot the Wizard made. He has since been taken in by the Fantastic Four, and only refers to himself as 23, feeling he "hasn't earned his name", as the original Wizard did. He has since joined the Future Foundation.
1602 Wizard
In 1602: Fantastick Four, the 17th century version of the Wizard is self-described as "the greatest scientist alive in the year 1602". He claims to have been captain of a ship that reached the edge of the world and found a golden city, with the "Four Most Frightful" as his crew. Shortly before arriving in Atlantis with Otto von Doom, he admits that this was an exaggeration.[volume & issue needed]
Like his mainstream counterpart, he has some means of defying gravity, although its exact nature is unclear. He refers to having some magical abilities.[volume & issue needed]
House of M: Masters of Evil
Wizard is seen as a member of Hood's Masters of Evil.[39]
MC2
In the MC2 series Fantastic Five, the Wingless Wizard is confined to a hover chair and blames Reed Richards for crippling him. He gathers a new team, the Wizard's Warriors: two women, Dominator and Freefall, and three men, Bullet, Binder and Impact. The team are supplied with the Wizard's various inventions. They attack the Fantastic Five, but the Wizard's real objective is to discover the true location of Reed Richards.[40]
Later most of the team are captured by Psi-Lord and Spider-Girl. He and Dominator nevertheless invade Reed Richards' space station in the Negative Zone, but the inbuilt defenses capture them, and Reed states that they must remain in "cold storage" until the rip in the universe is repaired.[41]
In other media
Television
- The Wizard appeared in the 1978 version of the Fantastic Four episode "Frightful Four." He assembles Medusa, Sandman, and Trapster for his Frightful Four. This version of the Wizard possesses supernatural powers rather than relying on technological weapons.
- The Wizard appeared in the 1981 Spider-Man episode "Under the Wizard's Spell." He takes control of Medusa using a special collar to help him steal an electrical device from a military base.
- The Wizard appeared in the Fantastic Four episode "And the Wind Cries Medusa" voiced by Ron Perlman. In his appearance, he assembled Medusa, Hydro-Man, and Trapster to form the Frightful Four. He also used a device to control the Thing.
- The Wizard appears in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Frightful" voiced by Jonathan Holmes. He assembles Klaw, Dragon Man, and Trapster to form the Frightful Four. Wizard uses the Frightful Four to set up their own crimes and look like heroes as a diversion to steal a sphere full of unstable molecules.
Video games
- The Wizard was the first boss, of three, in the third stage in the arcade game Captain America and the Avengers.
- The Wizard appears as a mini-boss in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. He and Scorcher attack the heroes at the gates to Lucia von Bardas' castle.
References
- ^ Strange Tales #102
- ^ Strange Tales #105
- ^ Strange Tales #110
- ^ Strange Tales #118
- ^ a b Fantastic Four #36
- ^ Fantastic Four #38
- ^ Fantastic Four #41-43
- ^ Fantastic Four #57
- ^ Marvel Super-Heroes Vol. 1 #15
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Annual #4
- ^ Fantastic Four #78
- ^ Fantastic Four #94
- ^ Marvel Team-Up #2
- ^ Fantastic Four #129-130
- ^ Fantastic Four #133
- ^ Fantastic Four #148
- ^ Fantastic Four #176-178
- ^ Spectacular Spider-Man #42; Fantastic Four #218
- ^ Avengers #231-232
- ^ Avengers #235
- ^ Fantastic Four #300
- ^ Fantastic Four #301
- ^ Fantastic Four #326-333
- ^ Avengers Spotlight #26
- ^ Spectacular Spider-Man #158; Amazing Spider-Man #327; Avengers #312
- ^ Spectacular Spider-Man #159
- ^ Avengers #313
- ^ Avengers West Coast #55
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Annual #24
- ^ Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #10
- ^ New Avengers #33
- ^ IGN Interview: Marvel's Massive Avengers Conspiracy
- ^ Secret Invasion #6
- ^ New Avengers #50
- ^ Fall of the Hulks: Alpha
- ^ Fall of the Hulks: Gamma
- ^ Fantastic Four #579
- ^ FF #1
- ^ House of M: Masters of Evil #1
- ^ Fantastic Five #2
- ^ Fantastic Five #3-#4
External links
- Wizard at Marvel.com
- Wizard's Warriors at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- Wizard from MC2 timeline at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
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