Vance Astro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about Vance Astro, a.k.a. Major Victory, the member of the Guardians of the Galaxy; for his alternate timeline counterpart, once known as Marvel Boy and later as Justice, see Vance Astrovik; for other characters named Major Victory, see Major Victory (disambiguation).
| Vance Astro | |
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| Publication information | |
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| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Marvel Super-Heroes (1st series) #18 (January 1969) |
| Created by | Arnold Drake Gene Colan |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Vance Astrovik |
| Team affiliations | Guardians of the Galaxy U.S. Air Force |
| Notable aliases | Major Victory |
| Abilities | Psychokinesis |
Vance Astro, also known as Major Victory, is a fictional character, a superhero in the future of the Marvel Comics universe, and a founding member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Vance Astrovik was born in Saugerties, New York, the only son of a small-town butcher Arnold Astrovik and his wife Norma. Going into the U.S. Air Force at the age of 18, Astrovik (who changed his name to Astro when he was 21) became the youngest man to be accepted into the astronaut training program several years later. In 1988, Astro volunteered for the first manned interstellar mission ever conducted by the United States. In this alternate future, Reed Richards never released his own experimental faster-than-light ship to the government, and they were unaware that he even has such a capability.
His ship, Odysseus I, was not equipped for faster-than-light speed; hence the journey to Earth's nearest interstellar neighbor, a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, would take about 10 centuries. To protect him from aging, Astro was covered with a skin-preserving copper alloy (which was upgraded with adamantium in the Guardians of the Galaxy series) body-suit, and his blood was transfused with a kind of preservative fluid. Astro was launched into space from the Houston Airport in the fall of 1988.
While on his way to Alpha Centauri, the ship automatically awoke him from his suspended animation in order for him to perform routine course adjustments. During the periods he was awake, sometimes for a year in duration, Astro eventually went insane from loneliness on several occasions, returning to a semblance of normality only after the ship automatically put him back in suspended animation again. During his long periods of sustained dream-state activities, Astro's latent psionic powers emerged. By the time he arrived on Centauri IV almost a thousand years later, he had full control over his psychokinetic abilities.
Upon arrival, Astro learned that Earth had beaten him to Centauri IV by two hundred years, having developed a faster-than-light drive since the time he left. Although Earth was unable to intercept his flight, the Centaurian people afforded him a hero's welcome. Disturbed by his reputation, Astro was determined to carry out the mission he was assigned a millennium ago, even though it would now be superfluous. While engaged in a geophysical survey, he encountered Yondu, one of the humanoid natives of the planet. When the alien Badoon launched an attack on Centauri IV, annihilating the human colony and methodically eradicating the natives, Astro and Yondu attempted to escape in Astro's ship. They were overtaken and transported to Earth. There they escaped in the year 3007 A.D. and joined with two other survivors of Badoon's massacre to form the Guardians of the Galaxy, with himself as the leader. After liberating Earth, the Guardians set out on a random course across the galaxy, in the hopes of safeguarding freedom everywhere, and fight the Badoon conquest of Earth's solar system.[1]
Eight years later, Astro and the Guardians of the Galaxy time-traveled to the 20th Century, and met the Defenders. The Guardians returned to 3015 A.D. with Starhawk and the Defenders to defeat a new Badoon invasion force.[2]
Later, Astro and the Guardians teamed with the time-traveling Thor. They battled Korvac and his Minions of Menace.[3] Astro then traveled to the present alongside his fellow Guardians, and assisted the Avengers in battle against Korvac.[4]
Years later, on a trip to the present-day Marvel Universe, Astro encountered his younger self and convinced him not to join the USAF.[5] He also accidentally awoke the younger Vance's telekinetic powers, ensuring the divergence. The younger Vance Astrovik would later join the New Warriors, first as Marvel Boy, then as Justice, and eventually became a member of the Avengers for a short time. (Because all of the Guardians of the Galaxy are reserve Avengers, Vance holds the distinction of being the only Avenger to appear twice in the roster--as himself, and as Justice.)
After returning to his own time, Astro became involved with his teammate Aleta after she was freed from her physical merger with her ex-husband Starhawk. Astro went on a quest to find the lost shield of Captain America. He battled Taserface and the Stark during the quest, and defeated the Stark.[6] Then, after retrieving Captain America's shield, he was critically injured in a battle with a gang that based themselves on the Punisher. Vance was healed by Krugarr, Doctor Strange's former apprentice and the current Sorcerer Supreme, and was freed from his containment suit. He then adopted a costume similar to that of Captain America to go with the shield and took the name Major Victory.[7]
Shortly thereafter, Krugarr's enchantment was removed, and Vance began to age rapidly. He was saved by a symbiote costume, presumably of the same species as Venom.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Vance Astro is a mutant who possesses the psionic ability of psychokinesis, the ability to affect matter with his mind. For some reason, Vance's psionic powers can only be manifested as "psyche-blasts", focused psychokinetic blasts of explosive concussive force, which can disrupt the synapses in the minds of any living being they strike. He can focus the energy at will, creating anything from a narrow 2-inch diameter beam to a 360 degree expanding sphere of force. Vance has eventually shown some marginal improvement of the control of his psychokinesis, such as generating small psionic pulses to slow the descent of falling people, or gentle psychic bursts to move objects forwards or backwards (all without inflicitng any damage on the people or objects). Vance can only employ his psionic powers at maximum exertion for about a half hour before suffering mental fatigue and a need to replenish his store of psionic energy. He was once forced to wear a copper alloy bodysuit to prevent his body from decaying on exposure to air. During the time when he carried Captain America's shield in combat, he would use his power to propel the shield and manipulate its flight path, simulating the Captain's use of the shield as a throwing weapon. All of these abilities were augmented by a transfusion of Hollywood's (a 1,000 year old Simon Williams) ionically-enhanced blood.[8] Vance's dependency on his suit was cured by a spell by Krugarr and the blood transfusion from Hollywood.
Astro is an above average athlete and an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, having received unarmed combat training in the U.S. Air Force circa 20th Century. Vance is also an excellent starship pilot and astronaut, and a superb leader and strategist.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Major Vance Astro, extensive biography with exhaustive references
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