Blue Marvel

Origin

Adam Brashear was a young man who served his country as a U.S. Marine. When he discovered his super-powers, he fashioned a secret identity with which to protect his country; the Blue Marvel! He served as a hero for years, and was one of the most popular heroes of his time. Yet Adam had a secret, he was an African-American, a fact not lost on the government. As a precaution against so much power in the hands of a black man, they took steps to control him, even going so far as to plant a spy for him to date, whom he eventually married. His career as the Blue Marvel ended after he faced the Anti-Man. During the battle his mask was damaged, revealing his ethnicity, outraging portions of the U.S. population.

After being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (after agreeing to give up adventuring) he retreated to the moon, where he threw away his medal. There he encountered Uatu the Watcher. While discussing his problems Uatu, and how they made him feel, the encountered an alien invasion force when Adam discovered a scout, defeated it, and followed it back to its armada. Leaping into action, Adam saved Earth by destroying their force, a fact that would remain secret.

Years went by without Adam donning the cape and cowl again, he lived a normal life raising a family and working having earned a PhD in Theoretical Physics; Electrical Engineering Degree from Cornell, before the return of the Anti-Man. Though because of his bitter history with the government he refused to help. Things grew even worse when his wife revealed her part in the plot to keep him under wraps, and her job as a spy. She was formerly an undercover agent sent to watch Brashear. She explains why she reluctantly took the job of spying on him, and later, how she eventually fell in love with Adam, despite the prevailing racism and prejudice of the era. Brasher, feeling shocked and betrayed by his wife's revelation, once more retreats to the moon. Where, his solace is interrupted by the Watcher. The two have a conversation, in which the Watcher helped him remember why he had become a hero in the first place, though he vowed that he would never take the fall again.

During there talk The Watcher reminds them of the first time that they met. At that time (1960's) an alien invasion task force assembled over the moon with the Earth within its sights. Blue Marvel dispatches the armada with relative ease, saving the Earth. However, his victory is unrecognized for no one besides himself, the Watcher, and any possible surviving aliens know of it . Cut back to the present, Adam leaves to talk to Tony Stark aboard the Helicarrier. After Adam talks with the Mighty Avengers, he eventually decides to resume his Blue Marvel identity. Answering Tony Stark's call to defeat the re-emergent Anti-man.

Major Story Arcs

Anti-Man Returns

Later, The Blue Marvel is confronted by Anti-Man (who was revealed as Brashear's best friend and a fellow member of the US Armed Forces) and they have the classic "hero trying to talk the misguided villain down" discussion, wherein The Blue Marvel tries to reach Anti-Man by reminding him of all the good times they spent together with both of their families at picnics and BBQs and such, and how they are the godfathers to each others children. Unfortunately, Anti-Man seems to have grown much stronger since Adam defeated him decades ago, and the Blue Marvel is unable to put him down.

It is revealed that Adam received his powers while, as a scientist, conducting a test on an anti matter device which exploded and gave him (and his former friend who would later be known as Anti-Man) his superpowers. Notably, in some of the Blue Marvel's escapades, Namor & Adam had a few run-ins and team-ups in the 1950's, and are old friends. Some time later, Anti-Man is seen talking to himself about how man kind previously has hurt and killed others for stupid reasons - WW2, Stalin, Civil Rights riots,Vietnam, and that how he is going to change everything. He is flying over the planet literally blasting various countries with antimatter. Adam has explained that Conner (a.k.a Anti-Man) was able to tap into more power than Adam since he is unstable and that is why he is harder to contain. Adam explains that he could link to his power since they are drawing from the same source, and then send a positive plasma charge back out to disperse Conner's form through implosion.

The Mighty Avengers

However, Reed Richards argues that the plan is too risky since it could blow up the planet. Brashear get's mad that the Avengers don't want him to use that plan, Adam flies out regardless and they chase after him. Each one takes their respective shot at him, then Sentry launches at him and explains how he was like him, prideful and not willing to listen.

Sentry then really lays out a barrage of punches and brings Brashear down to the floor, then Adam lets loose a punch that knocks Sentry into space. Then Adam takes out the other Avengers, when Sentry flies back to Earth and they both seem tired. Adam passes out, while Sentry falls to his knee's from the previous shot.

The Antimatter storms caused by Anti-Man persisted and were causing the Negative Zone itself to spill out into mainstream Marvel Universe. Reed and Iron man later come together to build a negative gamma cannon that supposedly will polarize Anti-man's energy and keep him from coalescing or coming together after he is taken apart.

Adam is seen in a stasis tube to be kept from going out again. Sue Richards brought Adam's wife to see him, she argues as to why he is kept like that. The antimatter storms start hitting on parts of Manhattan. Adam wakes up and breaks through the chassis, his wife begs him to be straight forward and face that he is angry at himself for letting others boss him around and not follow his own instincts.

That he was afraid of causing tension for races or government. She tries to persuade him to just let the Avengers deal with this, he tells her he can't just leave it like that. He kisses her goodbye and flies away. Anti-man is seen taking everything from the Avengers and just giving it back in return. Adam appears and knocks him back. Adam then tells the Avengers he has a plan.

Stopping Anti-Man

He has certain members holding other people back for safety, Iron Man and Ms. Marvel flying around him in circle as fast as possible, while hitting him with plasma bursts, She Hulk and Wonder Man and Ares take the low ground and hit him with everything so he can expend as much energy as possible. Then Reed realizes that Adam is trying to create an artificial cyclotron particle accelerator so as to disperse him. While Sentry and Adam go straight at him from the high ground.

Adam then syncs up with Anti-Man's energy and starts weakening Conner. Candace is in the crowd and runs to Adam, Conner yells. Saying he has more power than anybody and he is going to show it. He lets out an energy wave that knocks out most Avengers. Then Candace get's caught in the blaze, turning her into a burned/deformed dying meat sack.

Than with her dying words she makes Adam promise that he won't hide from the world anymore. Anti-Man then hits Adam again and the antimatter storms are now all over the planet and Conner say's how he will give the world hell. Adam and Anti-man then trade blows as Adam say's he has become like all others, in justifying genocide for a point of view.

Adam takes Conner into space and sync's with him and is about to disperse his energy as Conner begs for his life. Adam says he feels sorry for Conner, but forgives him for all he has done. Adam than releases the energy saving the Earth and destroying Anti-Man. After the funeral for Candace, Stark visited Adam to apologize for his loss and to invited him to join the Avengers. Adam says he wants time to think it over. At home, he finds a box with a letter from his late wife. In it is a new uniform she made for when he one day goes back as the Blue Marvel.

Heroic Age

Recently, Adam's fear of not being able to fit into the new Heroic Age was shattered when his old friend, Uatu, convinced him to confront the world-destroying tyrant known as King Hyperion, a mentally deranged version of The Squadron Supreme's Hyperion who had served as one of The Exiles' primary arch-nemesis' long ago. As they fought, King Hyperion managed to get the upper hand and viciously beat Adam while the inhabitants of a village ruined by their fight watched and came to the mistaken conclusion that Adam was just another tyrant like King Hyperion. As Adam lay there in the mud while the villagers tossed things at him, King Hyperion took a little girl hostage and threatened to rip her apart. Adam became furious and managed to find the strength to continue fighting the mad God Emperor of Earth - 4023.

By allowing himself to cut loose and unleash his anti-matter energy powers, Adam managed to bring King Hyperion down and save the village. After defeating King Hyperion, the little girl whose life Hyperion threatened thanked Adam for saving her and in turn, changed the way the villagers viewed Adam. No longer was he considered a villain and was praised for saving their small village from annihilation, giving Adam the confidence to try and fit his way into the new Heroic Age.

Powers and Abilities

The Blue Marvel's source of power is the energy released from anti-matter. Anti-matter is is the same as normal matter except that the sub-atomic particles are the opposite charge. Therefore, anti-matter and normal matter cannot coexist without exploding. CERN recently made the first particles of anti-matter, apparently kept in in a magnetically charged vacuum to keep it from coming in contact with normal matter. Nuclear fission releases energy with 1.5% efficiency; anti-matter releases energy with 100% efficiency. One gram of anti-matter contains the same energy as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. One droplet could power New York City for a full day. Adam Brashear is the first human anti-matter generator and reactor. The experiment he gained his powers from renders his form unaffected from anti-matter. During his mini, he went toe to toe with the Sentry, as well as with the rest of the Avengers. He knocked the Sentry into orbit in a blow, knocking him unconscious for several minutes. The Sentry barely pulled off a win against Brashear, who had been fighting the Avengers for quite some time, and nearly passed out himself. He also lifted a disabled battleship weighing 100 000 tons and flew it back to port for repair. He also easily stopped a meteorite the size of Arkansas from striking Earth using his great strength. The Watcher said that Blue Marvel could have "split the moon in two" with one blow. He has also survived a 1 megaton atomic bomb exploding in his hands without suffering any type of damage. He has shown to have energy manipulation powers using his anti-matter. He can release concentrated beams from his hands or an omni-direction blasts throughout his body. He has also been shown to create power shields strong enough to deflect a charging attacks from King Hyperion In a short time, the Blue Marvel has established himself as a premier powerhouse in the Marvel universe. Prince Namor himself stated that after the Blue Marvel's long hiatus that only the Hulk and Thor have hit him as hard.

Alternate Version

In the What If Secret Invasion, we see Blue Marvel fighting along side the Avengers against the Skrulls and Red Hulk. Blue Marvel was seen working as the resident scientist/powerhouse of the team. In this universe the Skrulls had taken over Earth.