The Official Stupid Question Thread: Marvel Edition - Part 1

[chamber-music]

Luke Cage doesn't like walking around in just his underwear like The Thing, The Hulk or Colossus its bad for his street cred

 

[ibsisomis]

The only bar we really have to REALLY gauge this by is Juggernaut. Both fought juggy. WWH fought in the XMEN tie-in. And War fought both juggy & creel. In WWH, juggy after he got his powers back actually gave WWH a fight. Had WWH not slapped juggy in the back into the river. Who knows what would've happened. But War embarrassed juggy & creel at the same time. And at one point could've killed/maimed juggy. Plus i might be mistaken, but wasn't juggy NOT @ full power when he fought WWH? So with clear evidence, I say WAR beats WWH. What say you guys?

 

[javi1024]

Hi! guy's long time reader of the forums but had to sign up to ask, My Brother and Me want to know can Luke Cage punch Kitty Pryde while she is in her intangible state? She moves through thing because her molecules move around other object/people's molecules, but Luke Cage's skin is impenetrable making her not pass through, thus making her get knocked out right?

Kitty has been able to pass through metal and devices specifically designed to keep her out. so id imagine if she concentrated hard enough she could.

 

[javi1024]

O and while talking abput Nightcrawler has the Tpb came out with the end of that x-force story or not yet, and whats the name btw?

it was in the "Second Coming" crossover, X-Force #25 if i remember correctly. im not sure if its out in trade yet but the hardcover came out not too long ago.

 

[LiMoNiTe]

Cool, i got the second coming and revelations and it's not in ether it just might not be out like you said, thanks tho.

 

[Mad Ones]

I just finished reading JMS's run on Thor and want to see how the Asgard/Latveria storyline concludes. I only have a partial understanding of the rest of the marvel universe, but I want to read Siege. Will it be worth getting if I haven't read the Iron Man lead up or any of the tie-ins?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, go for it. For all of the intricate little storylines and crossovers that built up toward Siege, all you really need to know going in is this: Norman Osborn, a.k.a. Spider-Man's arch-nemesis the Green Goblin, weaseled his way into the position of being the leader of all US superhuman forces. He corrupted the s*** out of the framework Iron Man had laid out before him, filling the ranks of the superhero army with his fellow supervillains and manipulating people left and right to amass more power for himself. But he's also a crazy, crazy man, and it turns out he's been manipulated himself by Loki. Loki convinces Osborn that the greatest remaining threat to his power is Asgard, so Osborn commits the full force of the US' superhuman army to utterly demolishing the home of the Norse gods. Bam, one paragraph and you're ready for Siege.

 

[Manic]

Also, Sentry be crazy.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That should be pretty apparent from Siege itself. Although, yeah, I guess you could invest some time in looking the Sentry up on Wikipedia, 'cause his backstory is important for Siege.

 

[The Morningstar]

I don't think it's really that important.

Once Bendis got his hands on Sentry he played fast and loose with the character. I guess you could read Dark Avengers to understand Bendis' take on the character.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, I just meant the whole Sentry/Void duality. Although, come to think of it, Osborn explains that when he's gloating to the heroes about how stupid they were for beating him while the Sentry's around.

 

[LiMoNiTe]

Just finished my 1st part of the Marvel RPG on this site for Armadillo, you guys should check it out, you get to write the story of whoever, however you want. jump on it before the good characters are taken. or just do like me and stick to the old balls.

 

[Fantasyartist]

I'm curious- has nobody ever considered putting a"contract" out on a superhero/heroine(Marvel or DC), esp since several have no "secret identities" and live open lives? True, it might be hard to kill someone like Spider-Man as his Spider-Sense will warn him of impending danger, but it shouldn't be impossible for other heroes/heroines?

My guess is that the underworld or most supervillains usually refrain from putting out a "contract" by a "hitman"( professional assassin) for the same reason the Mafia in the US(or British villains) usually do for law enforcement or judges/prosecutors(State or Federal): namely so doing would be manifestly and insanely counterproductive in the long run, bringing down unprecedented official "heat" on their operations. Terrorist groups seem to have a similar rationale( here's a good idea for a story have Al Qaeda decide to kill heroes/heroines-Captain America- would be a good example whom it claims represents the "infidel" West) but even they seem to give superheroes a wide berth.

Anybody think as I do?

Terry

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Blackout, a vampire was paid by a group called the Firm to capture Ghost Rider. He managed to abduct Dan Ketch's family and friends and even was successful in ripping Dan Ketch's throat out, but he was later defeated by Ghost Rider after DK transformed.

There was a group in the 90's that appeared in the Ghost Rider comics called the "The Next Wave" and they were superhuman contract killers. They ended up being terminated by their own boss by another group of superhuman killers.

Wolverine was also put on a list to be killed by a bunch of superhuman special forces agents who had super-healing and cauterizing claws. That didn't end up too well.

The Punisher was given money and weapons to take out every Superhero in the Marvel U in the Garth Ennis comic and was very successful in taking out Hulk, the X-Men, the Acolytes, Apocalypse, Ghost Rider, Dr. Doom, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, and others.

 

[The Question]

It's extremely difficult to but a contract out on someone when you don't know what their real name is or where they life. You might hire someone to track them down, and villains have done that in the past, but how succesful you are depends on how good they are at covering their tracks.

As for heroes with public identities, most public super heroes have no connection to organized crime. Why would The Mob have any beef with Reed Richards?

 

[moraldeficiency]

Arcade is basically a superhero assassin, he only takes contracts, one mil per head. So yeah it's been done.

 

[Dread]

The Fantastic Four did fight mobsters on occasion in the 60's, but since it's been rare. I know Hammerhead tried taking them on with an exo-skeleton armor suit during the John Bryne run, I believe.

When Matt Murdock's identity was leaked to the media/world during Bendis' run, several hit-men tried to kill him, including Boomerang and Shotgun.

Crossfire once put a contract out on Hawkeye's arm; not him, his ARM. He likely figured it was a better revenge to make him unable to be an archer anymore than outright killing him. That's arch enemies for you!

At one point in the 90's, Trapster framed Spider-Man for murdering low level thug Joey Z in his webs, and a very high bounty was put on his head for capture. This led Peter to "retire" his Spider-Man persona and don four alternate identities to battle crime and clear his name in a story called IDENTITY CRISIS. These were Hornet, Ricochet, Dusk, and Prodigy - at least the latter was a suit co-created by his ally, the Prowler. Spider-Man ultimately cleared his name and the bounty was dropped, but Mephisto adopted this costumes and gave them to aging Golden Age hero the Black Marvel to use in his quest to avenge a prior failure. He bestowed the costumes onto four new youths and that was how THE SLINGERS were born. Various mobsters have offered bounties for anyone who kills Spider-Man, naturally.

I am fairly certain Frank Castle/The Punisher has had various contracts out on him, and he's often made target practice of assassins. Elektra and Wolverine as well. Elektra is herself a professional assassin.

While not really a hero, Taskmaster has worked with the federal government on occasion, including helping train John Walker to replace Capt. America and then training heroes/soldiers during Stark & Osborn's Initiative program. When work leaked that he'd been a mole for Steve Rogers the entire time, a bounty of one billion dollars was placed on him and virtually every evil organization in Marvel sought to collect, from AIM to HYDRA to ULTIMATUM to the Secret Society, Serpent Society, Cyber-Ninja, and even ones never seen before. It was ultimately a ruse by a secret mastermind, and after Taskmaster killed him, the contract was presumably cut off.

Arcade is also a contract assassin, albeit an unsuccessful once since he started taking on heroes. He's sought to collect on hits on Capt. Britain, Spider-Man, and the X-Men, among others (like Tony Stark or the Thing).

In terms of professional hit-men, they're a dime a dozen in Marvel besides Blackout and Arcade. Many of them have had the displeasure of fighting heroes willing to kill, like Wolverine and Punisher. Sabretooth used to work for hire, as did Tiger-Shark. Kingpin naturally employs Bullseye to kill for him, and even very briefly, the Vulture (and the newest Hobgoblin recently). Some have obvious names, like "Bounty Hunter", "Hitman", and "Warrant". The professional mercenary Paladin has on at least one occasion been willing to accept an assassination contract due to a lofty payday and acceptable target.

Intergalactically, Gamora has accepted contracts and earned her title of "deadliest woman in the galaxy" that way. The Skrulls have been willing to put alien contracts on the Four on occasion. At one point a "Galactus Revenge Squad" type group went after Silver Surfer.

 

[runawayboulder]

Kingpin did after Spidey unmasked during Back in Black. The hitman took a shot at Peter and hit Aunt May instead. You probably don't remember thanks to Mephisto/Quesada/Strange/Stark/Reed/ect....

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

I just recalled also from GR, that character called "Snowblind" who was contracted by Deathwatch to take out Ghost Rider.

And also that Crazy Goon squad that was assigned to kill the Ghost Riders: Johnny Blaze, Dan Ketch featuring The Orb, Trull the Inhuman, Vengeance, The Deacon, Scarecrow, and Madcap.

 

[Dread]

Kingpin did after Spidey unmasked during Back in Black. The hitman took a shot at Peter and hit Aunt May instead. You probably don't remember thanks to Mephisto/Quesada/Strange/Stark/Reed/ect....

Probably because I didn't want to remember.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Oh, and the punisher got his start from a contract by the jackal to take out spider-man, likewise with kraven by the chameleon.

 

[Themanofbat]

Jack'O Lantern put a hit on the HobGoblin...hired the Foreigner to do it... and they killed Ned Leeds...

 

[Dread]

The Foreigner is an assassin who runs a guild of them who once upon a time was a B or C list Spidey villain who has fallen off the face of the earth. His wife/ex-wife Silver Sable has shown herself more on occasion.

She was a mercenary for hire, who used to specialize in capturing criminals and terrorists. There usually is a distinction between killers for hire and mercenaries for hire, but sometimes there is overlap (such as with Deadpool). It would take ages to list every contract killer type in Marvel because a slew of them only had one or two appearances before being captured or killed.

 

[Doomed_hero]

back when they where married and osborn knew his idenity. I always thought it would be a cool story if Osborn put a hit out on MJ to mess with peter.

 

[Dread]

Osborn used to claim that Peter was "his secret" and he wanted to take his revenge on him personally. That said, in MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN, Osborn organized the Sinister Twelve to take Spidey out after kidnapping MJ and May. Spidey needed the Fantastic Four and Avengers to help him win.