Speedball (comics)
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Speedball (Robert "Robbie" Baldwin) is a fictional superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by artist Steve Ditko and writer Tom DeFalco (with dialogue by Roger Stern), he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22 (1988).
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[edit] Publication history
Speedball (with The Masked Marvel as a sub-title on its logo) was a short-lived monthly ongoing series, which lasted 10 issues from 1988 to 1989. It was primarily plotted and written by Steve Ditko, who also supplied the covers, co-written by Tom DeFalco, and drawn by several different artists.
After his solo series, Speedball appeared primarily in New Warriors, and its related comics (Night Thrasher, Nova). Since the events of "Civil War", Speedball is a regular featuring character in Civil War: Front Line.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Robbie Baldwin was a high school student who became a costumed crimefighter in his hometown of Springdale, Connecticut after an accident at the Hammond Research Laboratory where Robbie worked part-time. The accident occurred when the Hammond scientists were trying to tap into a mysterious otherdimensional energy source, an energy which accidentally bombarded Robbie - who had secretly been watching the experiment - as well as a cat named Niels that belonged to one of the scientists. Baldwin survived the experience but found himself surrounded by weird energy bubbles and clad in an odd costume (presumably fashioned from the bubble-energy by Baldwin's subconscious).
A chance encounter with some thieves minutes later led to a battle in which Baldwin discovered that his body now generated a kinetic energy field that protected him from any impact and made him a bouncing dynamo of kinetic energy. Calling himself Speedball, Baldwin made a minor name for himself as a crimefighter in Springdale.
Robbie's parents, a successful lawyer and a soap opera star, were having marital difficulties while Robbie secretly led a double life, and the domestic stress escalated over time. Further Robbie's father, the lawyer, was anti-superhero which added hidden angst to the young hero's father-son relationship.
[edit] The New Warriors
A turning point came when Baldwin was shopping in New York City with his mother, when he saw a battle breaking out involving Terrax, former herald of Galactus. Joining the fray along with the other heroes that would subsequently become the founding members of the New Warriors, Baldwin agreed to join the team as well after Terrax was defeated.
However, the commute from Connecticut to New York City was a killer (Robbie would do things like jump in front of a speed train to get enough of a kinetic charge to bounce into the city), and was perrennially late for Night Thrasher's formal meetings. After an adventure involving his mother led to her discovering his secret identity as Speedball, and (unrelatedly) the collapse of his parents' marriage, Robbie moved permanently to NYC.
He quickly became an annoying but loveable kid brother to the older Warriors, particularly to Nova, who thought he was a pain more often than not, but the two eventually became close friends. Speedball found another true friend in Rage after he joined the team. While the older heroes were having romances, the younger Speedball and Rage just hung out and provided moral support to each other.
For a time, he was transported back to the dimension he gained his powers from, and during this time, Darrion Grobe took up the mantle of Speedball, although the other members thought it was still Robbie. He returned from the kinetic dimension later on and an older and wiser Robbie began a tentative relationship with Timeslip, a girl that was briefly a member of the Warriors before losing her powers.
[edit] Alias and other appearances pre-Civil War
Speedball made a cameo appearance in Alias, attempting to "bust" a gang that was dealing in the Mutant Growth Hormone drug, but ended up getting in the way of Jessica Jones and Jessica Drew, who were about to do the same thing.
In the early-2006 one-shot Masked Intentions, Squirrel Girl revealed her crush on Speedball. Also that year, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada said repeatedly in a jocular context that he intends to kill Speedball in the near future [1].
[edit] Civil War
In the 2006 multi-title crossover "Civil War", the New Warriors star in a TV reality show. When Speedball and three other New Warriors attempt to apprehend a group of supervillains on-camera in Stamford, Connecticut[1], Nitro sets off a massive blast that kills all but one of the team and about 600 civilians (including 60 children). This event triggers the push for superhero registration at the heart of "Civil War".
Speedball was presumed dead but later turned up alive[2]. He had been thrown over 500 miles by the blast, landing near Stockton, New York. His kinetic field had kept him alive, but "burned out" as a result. After awakening from a coma, the now-powerless Speedball is arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. and placed in federal prison. Later, after he discovers his powers are still functional, Speedball is taken to the new penitentiary called the Negative Zone Prison Alpha. There the facility's creator, Mr. Fantastic, offers Speedball the chance to testify before the U.S. Congress. On the Capitol steps, with She-Hulk as his defense attorney and bodyguard, Speedball is shot by an unknown assailant in a manner directly reminiscent of Jack Ruby killing Lee Harvey Oswald, and taken away by ambulance.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Speedball's body becomes surrounded by a repulsive force field after coming into contact with kinetic energy. Early in his career, the slightest touch, such as snapping his fingers, would turn on this field, but he eventually gained conscious control over it. The field repels all energy that strikes it, especially kinetic energy. As such, bullets, punches, and all other physical attacks will bounce off of him. A side effect of this, though, is that he, too, will bounce in the opposite direction. Speedball often uses this to his advantage, such as purposefully running into a wall in order to gain momentum and thus hit an opponent with twice the force.
While with the Warriors, Speedball gained far greater control over his powers via a combination of experience in battle and Night Thrasher's mentorship off the battlefield. Whereas previously Speedball could barely bounce in the direction he wanted, he eventually became more proficient at controlling his leaps and using his powers in various ways, such as to deliver impressive blows, and even to project a stream of kinetic energy from his bubble field at a distance. He eventually learned to mentally "throw" the bubbles that surrounded his field to use as concussive force attacks.
[edit] Other versions
- An older version of Speedball exists in the MC2 universe, and appears sporadically in the Spider-Girl series and related miniseries.
- The eixistence of an Ultimate Marvel version of Speedball was confirmed in Ultimate Spider-Man #81. Some kid at Peter's school said in the opening page "I really do like that Speedball." Also, in Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2, 2006, a man is seen in police custody wearing one of Speedball's costumes whilst repeating "Not like this!". It is unconfirmed if this is the the actual Ultimate Speedball, or just a reference to Speedball's fate in Civil War.
- In Fantastic Four: Big Town #1, Speedball was a member of the X-Squad.
- A member of the New Warriors, an alternate verion of Speedball appeared in Marvel Universe Millennial Vision 2001: New Warriors: The Godsend. He manipulated others into attacking heroes by Muse and Mr. Nimbus.
[edit] Marvel Team-Up: League of Losers
Speedball features in an arc of Robert Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3), featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including Gravity, Darkhawk, Dagger, Araña, X-23, Sleepwalker and Terror (although Araña dies along the way) go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards' time machine, Chronok having come to the present and already having killed all of Marvel's major heroes.
It's revealed Chronok is from the same time period as Kirkman's Mutant 2099; the group stays with him and his mentor Reed Richards to wait for Chronok. The team defeats Chronok, but at the end of the story, Richards reveals they can't go back to their present, due to time-travel and alternate timelines. The group decides to stay in the future, satisified with the impact they made, however unnoticed. Mutant 2099 suggests reforming the Avengers or the "Fantastic Nine".
Note that due to the Marvel Universe's method for resolving time travel paradoxes, this story occurred in an alternate universe.
[edit] Appearances in other media
Speedball was mentioned in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game. While racing the Human Torch, Spider-Man jibes: "Speedball is faster than you!" Also mentioned in the game while Peter researches himself on a website on mutants. One article is noticed by Peter with Speedball claming "He's the coolest guy since the Ultimates."
[edit] Notes
- In X-Men vol. 2 #187, Adam Austin was known as Masked Marvel. He had the ability to fly, generate anti-gravity spheres around his hands and expand into force field.
- In 2092, Darrion Grobe, the son of advent, had his mind placed into a duplicate of Baldwin's body and became known as Speedball. He allowed himself to believe he was Baldwin, and replaced the real Baldwain in New Warriors. He first appeared in New Warriors vol. 1 #50 and was killed by Sphinx in New Warriors vol. 1 #69.
[edit] Bibliography
- New Warriors vol. 1 #50-52, 54-69 (death), 70
- Night Thrasher vol. 2 #16, 20
- Nova vol. 2 #14
- Spider-Man: Friends & Enemies #1-4
- Maximum Clonage: Alpha
- Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 2 #227-228
- Web of Spider-Man #129
- Web of Scarlet Spider #4
[edit] References
- ^ Civil War #1
- ^ Civil War: Front Line #1 (Aug. 2006)
