| Madcap | |
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Madcap in Ghost Rider: Heaven's on Fire #4. Art by Roland Boschi. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Captain America #307 (July 1985) |
| Created by | Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary |
| In-story information | |
| Abilities | Accelerated healing factor immortality insanity inducement (temporary, or permanent) |
Madcap is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. He first appeared in Captain America #307 (July 1985). He has clashed with Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Hawkeye, Nomad, the Power Pack, Quasar and She-Hulk.
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Although his true name is yet to be revealed, Madcap was originally a deeply religious young man. One day he, his family and members of their church community were on their way to a picnic when their bus collided with a tanker truck full of Compound X07, an experimental nerve agent developed by A.I.M. Everyone aboard the bus, including his parents and sister Katy, were killed, leaving him as the only survivor, his body mixing with the Compound. He was taken to a nearby hospital. When being told of the deaths of all his friends and family, the deeply religious man's mind shattered. His belief in a rational universe was swept away.
Leaving the hospital, he attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself in front of moving traffic. He was injured but the wounds healed almost instantly. This pushed him further over the edge. After purchasing a toy soap bubble pistol from a dime store and donning a garish clown costume stolen from the Ace Costume Shop, the newly-christened Madcap set out to convince others that life is entirely without reason.
His first battle was with Nomad, who was at the time Captain America's sidekick. This occurred when Madcap, now a prankster spewing absurdist philosophy, ran rampant through the streets of Manhattan causing mass chaos and a riot. Upon first confronting him, Madcap invited Nomad to "knock some sense" into him; Nomad punched him, dislocating Madcap's jaw. Madcap then popped his jaw painlessly back into place and made his escape, driving Nomad himself crazy in the process. Like the other people in the area, Nomad ran around, acting crazy and making puns and silly jokes. In the course of the experience, he even saw himself in a store window slowly turning into Captain America. This convinced him that it was time to get out of Cap's flat and shadow and make his own mark on the world by bringing Madcap down.
Nomad tracked Madcap to a shack in an old fairground at Coney Island and tricked him into believing that he was espousing Madcap's view that life was nothing but absurd. When Madcap resumed driving people crazy, Nomad subdued and captured him. Having gained confidence from the fight, Nomad would part from Captain America on friendly terms and venture on a hero career of his own.[1]
Madcap was incarcerated in a mental hospital but escaped, got back into costume and broke up a shipment of illegal arms organized by the Rose. In the course of the fight he met Dollar Bill, who ran a Manhattan public-access television cable TV show. The two were filming "a day in the life of a superhero" when Madcap was abducted by criminals following the Rose's order to kill him. Taken to a warehouse, Madcap was tied up and beaten through with an axe. Being indestructible, he just took the attacks in his stride. At that moment Daredevil intervened, but in the fight that followed the warehouse was burned down, along with Madcap who simply ignored Daredevil's repeated appeals to get out of the blazing inferno. When his body was found, Madcap was declared legally dead, but slowly returned to life while in the morgue. He returned to Dollar Bill and persuaded him to change the name of his show to the "Madcap Mystery Hour."[2]
It was while watching an episode of the show that a bored Katie Power and Franklin Richards of Power Pack decided that Madcap would be someone with whom they could go on an "adventure." Madcap agreed, but his idea of adventure was to cause chaos and confusion all over town and even go head-on to confront armed bank robbers. Katie and Franklin disapproved of his irreverent attitude, but it did teach the two pre-adolescents a lesson in responsibility.[3]
At one point, Madcap encountered She-Hulk and she defeated him on a day when she was trying to have a quiet walk in the park.[4]
Madcap was later captured by Vice and Triphammer of the Power Tools on the order of Dr. Karl Malus. He was rescued by Hawkeye.[5]
Madcap was then asked by the Impossible Woman to teach her daughter Impia how to have fun. As part of his demonstration, Madcap used his powers on Quasar.[6]
Madcap, after a self-monologue in which he stabbed himself to no avail, decided he must show everyone that life is a joke. He went to Grand Central Station and began by causing a security guard to go mad. The guard, laughing, shot several people. By the time Ghost Rider arrived, the entire station was rampant with people murdering each other and killing themselves. Ghost Rider saved whoever he could, including a baby from an incoming train, then beat Madcap and subjected him to the Penance Stare. Madcap felt all the pain he had caused his victims and he liked it: it was the first real sensation he had felt in some time and he vowed to continue, in order to experience the Stare again, no matter how many people would be hurt.[7] He would later try to escape from the Vault, a prison for superhumans. He was stopped by Citizen V.[8]
Silver Sable, leader of the country of Symkaria, hired a team of super-powered heroes to help protect a mad scientist from capture by the group Heroes for Hire. Sable believed that one of her employees was the aforementioned Nomad but soon discovered she had hired Madcap instead. The teams confronted each other in the monastery of St. Eboar's, deep in Symkaria. Deadpool and Madcap learned that the other was hard to injure and, delighted, fought on that basis. Deadpool was overwhelmed and teleported out. Madcap, despite his chaotic nature, obeyed orders, guarding Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. His bad Monty Python routines were interrupted by Deadpool, who temporarily defeated him with a blow that seemingly snapped his neck. He returned minutes later to battle Deadpool once again.[9] The entire incident, plus more, turned out to be engineered by the villain Master of the World.
Madcap was among those considered by Blackout and the Deacon to help them assassinate the Ghost Rider.[10] He is now working on a mission to kill Ghost Rider.[11]
Madcap possesses two superpowers, as a result of the mutagenic effects of his exposure to Compound X07.