THE BLUE MARVEL (Adam Bernard Brashear)
Created By: Kevin Grevioux
First Appearance: Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1 (Nov. 2008)
Role: Yet Another Retcon Hero, Elder Statesman
Group Affiliations: The Mighty Avengers, The United States Marine Corps.
Avengers Grade: D-Level (new member)
PL 15 (331)
STRENGTH 18
STAMINA 17
AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 10
DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 10
AWARENESS 4
PRESENCE 4
Skills:
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Football) 5 (+7) -- Uses Agility
Expertise (Science) 8 (+18)
Insight 3 (+7)
Investigation 2 (+6)
Perception 6 (+10)
Persuasion 2 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Blasts) 2 (+10)
Technology 8 (+18)
Advantages:
Close Attack, Equipment 10 (Bitching Lab Under The Sea), Improved Critical 2 (Blasts, Unarmed), Improved Initiative, Interpose, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Withstand Damage (Trade Defenses For Toughness)
Powers:
"Living Anti-Matter Reactor"
Power-Lifting 6 (200,000 tons) [6]
Protection 3 (Extras: Impervious 15) [18]
Quickness 6 [6]
Immunity 16 (Tiring Effects, Aging, Life Support) [16]
Flight 18 (500,000 mph) [36]
Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) [2]
Senses 6 (Extended Sight, Vision, Hearing & Scent, Acute Scent, Analytical Taste) [6]
Regeneration 6 [6]
Create 16 (Feats: Precise) (Extras: Impervious 11, Movable) (65) -- [71]
- AE: "Create His Own Light" Environment 10 (Light 2) (20)
- AE: "Energy Pulse" Damage 15 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (46)
- AE: "Energy Fists" Penetrating Strength Damage 10 (10)
- AE: "Concussion Beams" Blast 20 (Feats: Increased Range 1, Split, Precise) (Extras: Penetrating 10) (53)
- AE: "Low-Energy Bolts" Affliction 14 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative) (32)
- AE: "Anti-Matter Shields" Deflect 14 (14)
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+18 Damage, DC 33)
Concussive Beams +10 (+20 Ranged Damage, DC 35)
Energy Pulse +15 Area (+15 Damage, DC 30)
Low-Energy Bolts +10 (+14 Ranged Affliction, DC 24)
Initiative +6
Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +20 (+8 Impervious), Fortitude +17, Will +8
Complications:
Relationship (Candace, aka Marlene Frazier- Wife)- Marlene was a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent assigned to watch Adam, but soon fell in love with him. She was killed in a battle with The Anti-Man.
Reputation (Giving Up)- Adam sometimes gets attitude from other black heroes about agreeing to step down way back in the day.
Relationship (Uatu, The Watcher)- They have a lot of one-sided conversations.
Total: Abilities: 110 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 22 / Powers: 167 / Defenses: 12 (331)
The Blue Marvel- Yet Another Supermanalogue:
-The story of the Blue Marvel seems like it may've been a cool story, if only Marvel hadn't done two different variations of the EXACT SAME THING in the preceding decade. The "Hero From the Old Days We've Never Mentioned Before" is part of The Sentry AND Isaiah Bradley's backstory in terms of Retconning yet another hero into the past, AND Isaiah's story is also one of a black guy experiencing old school racism and basically being brushed under the rug because of it. It seems completely unnecessary and annoying to go through it all over again, especially because he's YET ANOTHER FREAKING FLYING BRICK, adding up to Marvel's total probably exceeding DC's at this point!
-Adam Brashear is an uber-genius black scientist who was also a Marine and a fullback in College (just to make it SUPER-OBVIOUS that we should all be amazed), and got exposed to some mutagenic radiation due to an experiment. He became a walking anti-matter reactor and a big superhero, but was forced to retire in 1962 when it was discovered that it was a black guy behind "The Blue Marvel"- President Kennedy asking him to voluntarily step down. He comes out of retirement to fight his old lab partner (now the Anti-Man), who gained powers and insanity from the same explosion- his wife unfortunately dies in the battle, but now everyone knows the Blue Marvel again. Brashear thus ends up an active hero.
-It's like... I dunno, I haven't read it, so I can't judge the quality of the story. I just have grown soooooooo freaking tired of the same never-ending concepts of Retcon Heroes, Power-Geeking (he got a staggering list of Strength & Durability Feats in his debut, and was allowed to basically show him doing anything- HE'S EVEN SUPER-SMART), and Flying Bricks in Marvel because they want more Supermanalogues. He seems okay in
The Mighty Avengers, but hasn't gotten a tremendous amount of focus. The entire thing just makes me roll my eyes- were I an editor, I'd probably just laugh if a writer came in with his idea to present a hero he'd created when he was a kid (as Grevioux did), have him be super-smart, super-awesome and more powerful than an entire squad of Avengers, and then eat a nuclear bomb like it was nothing.
-It must be my age, though, because I can't really get that worked up over it anymore (I was actually grouchier about comics when I was younger). It's silly (especially since Marvel added one or two more SINCE then) and makes me roll my eyes, but not maddening or anything... and I even like the character in the books I've read him in! I find him more amusing than annoying, and though his origin and power feats are nuts and over-the-top, he seems okay in Luke Cage's
Mighty Avengers. He re-encounters the Anti-Man, but is convinced to spare him by his son Kevin. Unfortunately, Ewing seems to be the only writer with any interest in Brashear, so he hasn't appeared in a significant role since the end of
The Ultimates. His personality and concept is very "Calm Elder Statesman", a role actually pretty atypical in the Marvel Universe- Captain America is more of a war leader-type, so doesn't fit. Brashear is more like Alan Scott.
The Blue Marvel In Modern Time:
-In any case, the Blue Marvel pops up in the occasional book. He was on Al Ewing's
Mighty Avengers (lecturing the Illuminati over keeping the incursions that destroy the universe from all the heroes, since they could have helped), then joined his
Ultimates book as the brains behind the Ultimates' operation to assess and measure the nature of Marvel's new Cosmic Scene and universal balance.
The Blue Marvel's Power:
-Since The Blue Marvel is another Supermanalogue, and has fought The Sentry and lived, I figure him for PL 15- more than Thor and The Hulk. His Strength Feats are way past theirs (easily lifting a 93,000-ton warship, and The Watcher said "he could easily split the Earth in two", which is hyperbole as per usual in the "Tell, Don't Show" world of comic book feats, but still), and he once One-Hit-KO'd THE SENTRY, and then fought an entire squad of Avengers by himself, and later survived the detonation of an atomic bomb. He's more powerful than most of Earth's heroes, but more unpractised (he was retired for years, and never fought their level of competition).