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| Evil many of stone |
Continuing with a look at the various known members of the Serpent's "worthy" in the upcoming Fear Itself, it's time to look a personal favorite, the Grey Gargoyle. Paul Duval was a young chemist from France whose experiment went awry after he noticed the solution he was working on turned blue instead of red. A strange foreign substance had affected the mixture and Duval accidentally spilled the potion on his right hand. The chemical felt like liquid fire as it started to transform his hand into stone. Duval's left hand turned into stone after he touched his right hand. Duval accidentally touched his face and realized he has become a man of living stone. Duval started to test his stone spell in public and transform strangers into stone statues. Duval discovered that the people he turned into stone would revert back to human form after one hour and would use his new found power to become a great thief.
Duval played a role being a key villain to Thor for several years, working his way up through various rogues gallery and even being a member of the Masters of Evil. His most notable causes in "great destruction" as Matt Fraction revealed that is needed to be a worthy are: The Grey Gargoyle would escape from prison when his power of limited flight returned. Duval was still obsessed with the destruction of Thor and had plans to steal a new cobalt super-weapon created by Stark Enterprises. Duval believed he could finish Thor once and for all with this weapon and gain immortality once he possesses the enchanted hammer. The Grey Gargoyle would break into the factory while Tony Stark and Jasper Sitwell of SHIELD are present.
Duval turns numerous guards into statues while Sitwell tries to incapacitate the Grey Gargoyle with a weaponized gas pen. Stark barricades himself behind a steel door and changes into Iron Man. Duval shatters the gas pen and comes after Sitwell until he is struck by Iron Man's repulsor rays. Duval bombards his iron foe with pieces of stone plaster until he gets close enough to touch Iron Man. The metal Avenger becomes a stone statue and Duval carries Iron Man to the roof of his building. The Grey Gargoyle throws Iron Man off the roof and watches him plummet to his impending doom. Iron Man is saved when Jasper Sitwell drives a sand truck underneath the falling Avenger and his fall is cushioned by the pile of dirt. Grey Gargoyle proceeds into the factory and finds the new cobalt weapon but sets off an alarm when he breaks the plexiglass container. The Gargoyle's touch wore off on Iron Man and the two would meet in battle inside the factory.
The Commissioner asked Captain America for his help after seven officers and several city officials disappeared. Captain America agreed to play an undercover cop to serve as a decoy and hopefully lure out the man behind the kidnappings. Rogers was patrolling one evening and met Reverand Garcia after he scared off some young hoodlums. Rogers spoke to Reverend Garcia for a brief moment when he noticed a shadowy figure up on a building rooftop. Rogers changed into Captain America and followed the figure into a stone cutter's storage yard which was littered with various stone statues. Captain America discovered the stone statue of Reverend Garcia moments before the Grey Gargoyle leaped out of the shadows. A fight ensued and Grey Gargoyle even turned Captain America's shield into stone. Duval was forced to retreat when Falcon and Redwing provided some assistance.
The missing officers and city officials were found and changed back to normal after one hour. Falcon and Redwing would find Duval's secret laboratory surrounded by various chemicals. During the fight, Falcon is turned into a stone statue but is allowed to move due to a change Duval had made to the original formula. Duval added a tranquilizer serum to chemicals that made Sam Wilson docile and obedient. The Grey Gargoyle wanted to create a vast army of stone soldiers to serve him and help him obtain a powerful chemical called Element X. SHIELD had Element X in a special hover-copter lab that was hidden inside a mountain. SHIELD was planning to work on Element X in orbit because one drop was powerful enough to blow up the planet. The only thing that acted as a shield against Element X was solid stone and Captain America realized that the Grey Gargoyle would become the most dangerous person on Earth if he got his hands on Element X.
Captain America would find the Falcon as a living statue near a construction site and be forced to defend himself against his friend. Wilson collapses during the fight and Captain America takes him to Nick Fury's heli-cruiser to get medical attention. Sharon Carter was the head of SHIELD's Psyche Squad and was telling Rogers that Falcon was dangerous and should not be on board. Rogers wouldn't listen to her and told her his partner needed help regarding his stone appearance. Suddenly some alarms went off and it was coming from central control. Falcon was still under the command of the Grey Gargoyle and brought him aboard the ship with a vortex beam. Duval had turned the crew into stone and went after Fury and Carter. Fury ordered Agent 13 to activate plan D which was a self destruct sequence on the heli-cruiser. Dury the chaos, Duval turned Fury and Carter into stone.
She-Hulk would be at a FBI safe house in upstate New York with a criminal named Woziah who was under the witness protection program when they are attacked by the Grey Gargoyle and Killer Shrike. Someone hired these assassins to eliminate Woziah and She-Hulk was caught in the middle. Grey Gargoyle was upset at Killer Shrike for leaving him the mundane task of dealing with the guards. Grey Gargoyle decided to make things difficult for Shrike by bringing in their back up into play, Dragon Man. The android was out of control and started to destroy the roof of the safe house. Dragon Man lit up the house with his flames and accidentally set Killer Shrike on fire. Shrike jumped into a stream but got knocked out by She-Hulk. Grey Gargoyle crept behind the emerald beauty and turned her into stone. Duval wanted to know what would happen if his statue got smashed into pieces while She-Hulk was trapped in her frozen state. Duval wondered if she would still feel pain when she converts back to human form after one hour or would she simply die.
The Grey Gargoyle would come into conflict with the Thing after Grimm met a beautiful woman at a Yancy Street bar. The Thing chased after the Grey Gargoyle and noticed that he was turning innocent civilians into stone. The fight took place over the Brooklyn Bridge and the Thing was gaining the upper hand until he saw the female he was with earlier that evening. The distraction allowed the Grey Gargoyle to touch the Thing and turn him into a stone statue. Duval asked the lady if he passed the initiation test but was confronted by the rest of the Fantastic Four. Invisible Woman placed a shield over Grimm while Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch took on the Grey Gargoyle. Duval was able to touch Reed Richard's face but it had no effect because Invisible Woman placed a shield over his hands. Susan Richards placed the Grey Gargoyle inside an invisible bubble when he tried to run away and smashed him against the bridge. Duval muttered the words "Senso, help me" before he passed out but the Fantastic Four had no idea what it meant at the time. Grimm would stay in statue form for hours and was brought back to the Alexandria Space Station for some testing. The Thing's rocky exterior would come off and reveal Ben Grimm in human form. Apparently the Grey Gargoyle's powers had integrated with Diablo's aurum potable in Grimm's system and turned him back to a normal human being.
The Grey Gargoyle would come to the school of Tara Olson when the media said Thor was seen in that area. Tara and her friend Amanda noticed that the interior of the school had turned into stone. Tara went into the restroom and transformed into Thor Girl. Tara flew to the roof and noticed a stone statue of a security guard. The Grey Gargoyle turned Thor Girl into stone when she was distracted and smashed her to pieces with her own hammer. Duval now possessed Thor Girl's hammer but wasn't sure if immortality was finally his so he wanted to see if he could cheat death. Duval jumped out of his building window and survived the fall but wasn't quite convinced he was immortal. Duval knew he could never pick up Thor's hammer, Mjolnir but was able to wield Thor Girl's hammer with ease. Duval believed the hammer he had was a fake until he discovered how to fire bolts of energy with his new weapon and the ability to fly. Duval now believed he had an enchanted hammer and was truly immortal. The Grey Gargoyle would come into conflict with Jake Olson as Thor until a one man executioner called Desak entered the mix. Desak was after the Designate, Tarene but Duval told the god killer that he had killed her. The Grey Gargoyle told Desak he was a God but that would be a statement Duval would truly regret. Desak unleashed a blast of energy from his axe and struck down Duval. The Grey Gargoyle would recover and fire a bolt of energy at Desak with Tarene's hammer. Desak inched closer and closer until he smacked Duval away with his axe. Desak picked up Tarene's hammer and told Duval that he sensed no godliness or immortality within him. Desak had no interest with the Grey Gargoyle and Duval fled the scene when he failed to obtain immortality.
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| Worthy |
As it's been shown, the Grey Gargoyle has never failed to use his powers to create terror, fear or even kill to get what he wants. With his incredible powers, he is very fit to be one of the worthy of the Serpent. The question is, as shown in previews, he will turn all of Paris into stone with his new powers but will he stop there?
Special thanks to Rum1929 for the needed info
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