Marvel Boy
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Marvel Boy is the name of several fictional characters created and published by Marvel Comics and its predecessors, Timely and Atlas.
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[edit] Timely Comics
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Martin Burns is the 1940s Marvel Boy. After a mysterious shadow revealed to him that he possessed the power of Hercules, he became a superhero. The character made only two appearances — Daring Mystery Comics #6 (June 1940), by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, and USA Comics #7 (Feb. 1943), by writer-artist Bob Oksner — each of which featured a wildly disparate version of his origin, although both shared the basics noted above. The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: Golden Age 2004 reconciles these different origins by suggesting that there were two Marvel Boys named Martin Burns active in the 1940s.
[edit] Atlas Comics
Robert Grayson is the 1950s Marvel Boy, debuting in Marvel Boy #1 (Dec. 1950) and continuing to appear when the series title was changed to Astonishing with issue #3. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Russ Heath, with writer-artist Bill Everett taking over with issue #2, this Marvel Boy is the son of Dr. Horace Grabshield (later Anglicized as Grayson), a scientist who fled Earth with his infant during the rise of Nazi Germany. The Graysons landed on Uranus, where they were greeted by the native Eternals. Robert was given a costume and a pair of powerful bracelets, and returned to Earth to battle crime. His final story was in Astonishing #7 (Dec. 1951).
[edit] Marvel Comics
[edit] The Crusader
Robert Grayson, purportedly, returned much later as an antagonist in Fantastic Four #164-165 (Nov.-Dec.1975), having been driven by grief into insanity and calling himself The Crusader (no relation to the medieval character from the Atlas Comics title The Black Knight). When his power bracelets — which writer-editor Roy Thomas here dubbed "Quantum Bands" — overloaded, he was vaporized.
Grayson reappeared in the 2006 Marvel miniseries Agents of Atlas. The series explained his survival by stating that The Crusader had actually been a different person — a confused and surgically altered Uranian Eternal who had been using the Quantum Bands as a replacement for Marvel Boy's own power bracelets. This replacement was intended as an unquestioningly loyal servant of the Uranian Eternals, conditioned to obey and to believe he was actually the original Marvel Boy. However, the plan went awry when a disaster destroyed his creators midway through the project, leaving the Crusader in a deranged and delusional state.
[edit] Blue Marvel
The manipulative mastermind Thanos created a duplicate of Marvel Boy via the Infinity Gauntlet; this double was later renamed the Blue Marvel and attempted to become the Punisher's sidekick, but was rejected and was later exiled to a limbo dimension.
[edit] Alternate Versions
The anthology What If Vol. 1, #9 (June 1978) showed a world where Marvel Boy was a member of a team of 1950s Avengers; this alternate world was destroyed in the 1998-2000 miniseries Avengers Forever.
[edit] Reprints
Marvel Comics reprints of 1950s Atlas Comics stories, listed chronologically from date of earliest original publication:
- Marvel Tales #13 (March 1968)
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- "Marvel Boy and the Lost World" (Marvel Boy #1, Dec. 1950; art by Russ Heath)
- Marvel Tales #14 (May 1968)
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- "Eyes of Death" (Marvel Boy #1, Dec. 1950; art by Russ Heath)
- Marvel Tales #15 (July 1968)
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- "Caves of Doom" (Astonishing #5, August 1951; art by Bill Everett)
- Marvel Tales #16 (Sept. 1968)
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- "The Serpent Strikes" (Astonishing #5, August 1951; art by Bill Everett)
- The Golden Age of Marvel Comics (1997) ISBN 0-7851-0564-6
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- "The Deadly Decision" (Astonishing #5, August 1951; art by Bill Everett)
- Marvel Super-Heroes #19 (March 1969)
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- "Verdict By Magic" (Astonishing #6, Oct. 1951; art by Bill Everett; originally titled "Murder By Magic")
[edit] Notes
- Wendell Vaughn, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent became the 1970s Marvel Boy in Captain America #217 (Jan. 1978) when he became bonded to the 1950s Quantum Bands, which had been remanded to the covert spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. after the events of The Fantastic Four #165, above. His codename was quickly changed to Marvel Man as part of the agency's short-lived Super-Agent program. He changed it to Quasar in The Incredible Hulk #234 (April 1979), and under that name teamed up with the Thing in Marvel Two-in-One #53 (July 1979). After learning that the cosmic entity Eon had intended to give the alien Quantum Bands to the Protector of the Universe, accepted that role.
- Vance Astrovik was the 1980s Marvel Boy. He used the Marvel Boy codename for some time before being sent to prison in the pages of New Warriors; he later adopted the codename Justice.
- David Bank took on the name of Marvel Boy in Justice: Four Balance #4 (December, 1994), the closing issue of a series featuring Vance Astrovik, the previous Marvel Boy.
- Noh-Varr is Marvel Boy in an eponymous 2000 miniseries by Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones. He is an alien of the pink-skinned Kree species, although he hails from another reality. Upon arriving on Earth, he became an anti-hero styled after Captain Marvel but with elements of teenage rebellion added to the mix. In 2006 he appeared in the Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways miniseries.
[edit] Character gallery
 Daring Mystery Comics #6 (Sept. 1940): Martin Burns. Art by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. |
 Astonishing #5 (Aug. 1951): Robert Grayson. Art by Bill Everett. |
 Quasar #2 (Nov. 1989): Wendell Vaughn, with Eon. Art by Paul Ryan and Danny Bulanadi. |
 The Fantastic Four #356 (Sept. 1991): Vance Astrovik. Art by Paul Ryan and Al Williamson. |
 Marvel Boy #1 (Aug. 2000): Noh-Varr. Art by J.G. Jones. |
