Blue Marvel (Marvel Comics)

Blue Marvel (Adam Bernard Brashear), is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Blue Marvel debuted in Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1 (November 2008) and was created by actor/writer Kevin Grevioux, who originally conceived the character as a child.^[1]

Publication history

Adam Brashear debuted in the five issue Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel mini-series created by Kevin Grevioux.^[2][3] A different version later appeared briefly in What If? Secret Invasion #1 (February 2010).

In 2013, Blue Marvel appeared as part of Luke Cage's new team of superheroes during the Infinity crossover, in the Marvel NOW! relaunch of Mighty Avengers.^[4]

Fictional character biography

Adam Brashear is a former fullback at Cornell University as well as a veteran of the Korean War, a member of the Marine Corps with two Silver Stars.^[5] While in the Marine Corps he met Conner Sims, the friend he would later know as Anti-Man. Brashear later became the project lead on a scientific attempt to harness anti-matter through the creation of a Negative Reactor which created a bridge between the Negative Zone and the positive matter universe. This reactor would be a source of unlimited clean energy by allowing devices to tap the stable event horizon balanced between the two universes. Due to the unexpected explosion of the reactor, both Brashear and Sims were subjected to mutagenic radiation generated by the unstabilized event horizon. While Sims' body dissolved into energy, Brashear became a stable "antimatter reactor" with superhuman abilities, which he used to fight crime under the superhero alias Blue Marvel.^[6]

In 1962, Adam received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President John F. Kennedy on the day the President asked him to retire, since it had been discovered by the public that he is an African-American. As the Blue Marvel, Brashear wore a full-face helmet, but when it was damaged in a battle, his identity was revealed. There was massive controversy as the era of 1962 was too racist to accept a black superhero. Although Kennedy personally approved of Brashear's actions, the President reluctantly decided to ask Brashear to step down, and the Blue Marvel conceded.

At some point, Adam Brashear studied a mysterious being called the Infinaut who made various attempts to manifest on Earth. In the Infinaut's second manifestion in 1998, Adam and his son Kevin used an anti-matter powered rig to interrupt it. Adam discovered that if Infinaut had manifested on Earth at his large size, he would've destroyed it.^[7]

He came back for a final mission, defeating the herald of an alien invasion armada. After the fight, he left the Medal of Freedom in the Blue Area of the Moon, where he first met Uatu the Watcher. His conversation with the Watcher was interrupted by the late arrival of the alien armada, which he defeated. The United States government used this final mission to fake his death. The government later sets up S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Marlene Frazier as Brashear's monitor under the cover name Candace. Frazier eventually became his wife and the mother of their two children.^[8] Brashear later became a tenured professor of physics at the University of Maryland.

Conner Sims, the Anti-Man, was a radical who, partly because of his history with Adam Brashear, violently hated racism (he being Caucasian), and in his power-fuelled insanity sought to eradicate it. When Anti-Man returned and defeated the Avengers, Tony Stark (Iron Man) tracked down Brashear and with the help of Mister Fantastic they came up with a plan to stop Anti-Man. After a surprise confrontation with Sims on the moon, Brashear was left unconscious. Later an extended fight with Anti-Man resulted in Candace Brashear's death. At the conclusion of their battle, Brashear took Anti-Man up to the edge of the ionosphere and siphoned off his remaining "anti-matter energy" which caused his waveform to permanently decohere and collapse.^[9]

Afterward, Brashear returned as a full-time superhero in Age of Heroes #3. After a discussion with Uatu the Watcher, he travelled to Uzbekistan to help the Winter Guard subdue the extra-dimensional King Hyperion.^[10]

During the Fear Itself storyline, Blue Marvel was exploring the Neutral Zone when he returned and discovered a submarine lodged in Kadesh, his undersea base. Both the Chinese and American forces blamed the other, and they seemed on the brink of war. Blue Marvel managed to save his anti-matter samples from being exposed to water, and relations between the Chinese and Americans returned to normal. Blue Marvel wondered where the submarine came from, and he soon discovered that the sea dragon guarding the Serpent's undersea prison was responsible for sending the submarine into his base.^[11]

During the Infinity storyline, Uatu visited Blue Marvel in his Undersea Science Fortress which he had previously modified. Blue Marvel talked with Uatu about his family life and how he could have taken up the opportunity to join the Avengers.^[12] After a one-sided conversation, Blue Marvel took up his costume and flew through Shuma-Gorath's head during its fight with Luke Cage's team. He was able to heal Spectrum (who had been incapacitated by Proxima Midnight's spear) and boost her powers temporarily. Subsequently, Blue Marvel was among those Luke Cage declared to be part of his Mighty Avengers.^[13]

During the "Last Days" part of the Secret Wars storyline, Blue Marvel was seen with the Mighty Avengers where they fight the Illuminati. After the battle, Blue Marvel tells Mister Fantastic and Black Panther that he is angry they never consulted the other heroes on this, saying they could have prevented all this if they had all worked together.^[14]

As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel, Blue Marvel appeared as a member of the Ultimates.^[15] Blue Marvel's first mission with the Ultimates involved retrieving the incubator that Galactus was brought out of prematurely. Once they put him back into it, he fully emerged as a lifebringer.^[16] While in Exo-Space with the Ultimates within their ship the Aboena, Blue Marvel finds that his old enemy Anti-Man has reassembled there.^[17] As Blue Marvel wanted to kill Anti-Man where he deemed him too dangerous, he also discovered that his son Kevin was also in Exo-Space who persuaded his father to spare him. Blue Marvel does and has Anti-Man brought onto the Aboena so that he and the Ultimates can fix him.^[18]

During the Civil War II storyline, Ulysses later received a vision that tipped off Blue Marvel about Infinaut's ninth manifestation attempt enabling him, Giant-Man, and the Ultimates to work on a Pym Particle accelerator within a week. When the day in question happened, Blue Marvel and the Ultimates used the Pym Particle accelerator to anchor Infinaut and shrink him down to human size. When he finally spoke to Blue Marvel and the Ultimates, Infinaut was pleased to finally meet them.^[7]

Powers and abilities

The Blue Marvel has powers that allowed him to fight the Sentry, one of the most powerful beings on Earth.

• Superhuman strength: Blue Marvel possesses vast superhuman strength. He has been observed moving a meteor the size of Arkansas and routinely lifting and flying an aircraft carrier a considerable distance.The uppermost limits of Blue Marvel's strength is unknown, but it is thought it may equal the likes of an enraged Hulk, Sentry and others.
• Superhuman speed and reflexes: Blue Marvel possesses the ability to think, move, and react at superhuman speeds.
• Superhuman stamina: Blue Marvel possesses highly efficient musculature which produces no fatigue toxins, granting him limitless stamina in all physical activities.
• Flight: Blue Marvel flies by manipulation of gravitons, manipulation of magnetic fields, control of his absolute molecular movement, and utilizing his superhuman speed. Blue Marvel can easily attain escape velocity (or escape speed, which is about 34 times the speed of sound) and fly far beyond supersonic speeds, but it is unknown if he can achieve nearly the speed of light.
• Superhuman senses: Blue Marvel possesses superhuman senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.
• Enhanced mental perception: Blue Marvel possesses the ability to sense and comprehend things on levels that far exceed human capabilities.
• Invulnerability: Blue Marvel possesses nigh-invulnerability and durability, being capable of withstanding tremendous impact forces, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury. The Blue Marvel has withstood a nuclear detonation without any apparent physical trauma whatsoever. He is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space unaided.
• Regenerative healing factor: Despite his nigh invulnerability to injury, it is possible to injure Blue Marvel. If injured, however, his body is capable of quickly repairing damaged tissue with much greater speed and efficiency than the normal human body.
• Energy generation: Blue Marvel has the ability to generate and control negative matter energy based on antimatter. He can manipulate this energy for various effects, including creating energy constructs.^[19]
• Molecular manipulation: Blue Marvel evidently is able to affect matter at a molecular level with a great degree of precision and control, as he did when he not only healed Monica Rambeau, but further boosted her electromagnetic abilities. It is not known if this ability is limited to electromagnetic particles only, or if the Blue Marvel is able to affect all matter, allowing him to alter an object's molecular composition or transmute elements.
• According to Brashear he is a stable "antimatter reactor", but from his broader explanation what he appears to do is channel exotic particles generated by a stable event horizon caused by the interaction of opposing positive matter and negative matter (Negative Zone) universes. Because Brashear has retained his abilities all this time, it would seem that either the specific generative reaction, that granted him his powers continues at an unseen or subatomic level in the facility where he first gained his abilities, or exotic particles generated by the experiment somehow became quantum entangled with Brashear.^[8]
• Bioluminescence: Brashear/Blue Marvel has exhibited the ability to emit light from his body.^[20]

Brashear holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.^[5] He maintains a massive undersea headquarters in the Marianas Trench at a location known only to Namor the Sub-Mariner.^[6]

In other media

Video games

• Blue Marvel appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• Blue Marvel appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers.^[21]

References

External links

• Blue Marvel biography at World of Black Heroes
• Blue Marvel at Marvel.com
• Adam Brashear (Earth-616) at Marvel Database Project
• Blue Marvel at Comicvine
• Blue Marvel (Adam Brashear) at the Comic Book DB