Grandmaster (Marvel Comics)
Grandmaster | |
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Power Primordial :Immortality Master of all games Master strategist and tactician Energy control Size and matter manipulation Ability to "will" the death and resurrection of another |
The Grandmaster (En Dwi Gast) is a fictional character appearing in
Jeff Goldblum portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and in a cameo during the closing credits of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). Additionally, Goldblum voices alternate universe versions in the animated series What If...? (2021).
Publication history
The Grandmaster first appeared in The Avengers #69 (Oct. 1969). The character was created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema.[3]
Fictional character biography
Although his exact origin is unknown, he is one of the oldest living beings in the universe, coming from one of the first intelligent races to evolve after the
In his first appearance, the Grandmaster played a game against
The Grandmaster later challenged
The Grandmaster returned from beyond his grave to plague the East and West Coast Avengers during one of their annual games of baseball, reasoning that, since he was dead, he was free from his vow to leave Earth's heroes in peace. After he and the Collector tricked the teams into battling each other, the Grandmaster succeeded in his true plan: to capture Lady Death and usurp her powers. He forced the Avengers to participate in a competition with the Legion of the Unliving in order to stop a series of powerful bombs, the fate being all of creation. Captain America and Hawkeye were the only two heroes to survive; the rest of the Avengers were slain, only to instantly join the Legion. As the Grandmaster was preparing to force the pair to fight the Legion again, Hawkeye convinced him to lay it all on the line with one last game of pure chance. Hawkeye held one arrow in each fist, the tips hidden in his hands. Grandmaster would win if he chose the one with Hawkeye's last arrowhead. The one he picked was headless (Hawkeye admits to Captain America that he had cheated: he quickly snapped off the arrowhead as the Grandmaster chose the correct arrow), and his distraction allowed Lady Death to escape her bonds and banish the Grandmaster from her realm — in other words, making them effectively immortal.[9] As a reward, she returned the deceased Avengers to life. This incident is what led Death to ban the Elders from dying, confirmed by the Grandmaster in the issue's final panels, just before he expresses interest in the Avengers' renewed baseball game.[10]
He and a group of ten other Elders then conspired to kill Galactus and restart the universe; they felt that being banned from Death's realm would make them the sole survivors to continue their obsessions in a whole new universe.[11] The Grandmaster battled Galactus and the Silver Surfer,[12] and was one of the five Elders captured and consumed by Galactus.[13] The devoured Elders caused Galactus "cosmic indigestion" from within until they were forced out of him by Master Order and Lord Chaos.[14] When the Silver Surfer asked the five Elders to aid them in helping Galactus to defeat the In-Betweener the Grandmaster refused because it would nullify a solemn wager the Elders had made so the Champion physically restrained him until the battle was over.[15] Moments later, the five Elders used their Infinity Gems to instantaneously travel very far away from Galactus and his vengeance.[16]
The Grandmaster traveled to the Ultraverse to collect the Infinity Gems that were in Loki's possession. Both decide to make a competition for the possession of gems, pitting the Avengers against Ultraforce. However both lost the gems to the entity Nemesis.[17]
In 2004 the Grandmaster organized the meeting of the
The Grandmaster later recreated his Squadron Sinister, with new incarnations of members Doctor Spectrum and Hyperion, to contend against Baron Helmut Zemo's Thunderbolts. He has been using this Squadron to destroy several sources of extra-dimensional energy, known collectively as the "Universal Wellspring", apparently to prevent Zemo from controlling them. The Grandmaster was dispersed by Zemo in a battle for the final Wellspring.[19] In Thunderbolts #108 he was restored and battled Zemo for control of Earth, however using all the power of Earth that had been loaned to him by Earth's superhumans, Zemo was able to take his powers away. Zemo then shot the Grandmaster in the head seemingly killing him.[20]
The Grandmaster returns, promising the Hulk the revival of his long-lost love,
The Grandmaster returns, with a more childish attitude. He has developed romantic feelings towards the X-Man heroine Dazzler. To that end, he stages a roller derby pitting her and two friends against dozens of super-villains. This angers Dazzler, because romance does not involve putting the person you care about in seemingly deadly danger.[23]
Eight months after the "
During the "No Surrender" arc, Grandmaster forms his version of the
During the "Empyre" storyline, Grandmaster is revealed to have a sister called the Profiteer, another Elder of the Universe.[28]
Powers and abilities
The Grandmaster has been described as manipulating the so-called "power primordial", radiation left over from the Big Bang,[29] and is one of the most powerful Elders of the Universe. However, his power is considerably below that of Galactus and the In-Betweener.[30] It has been implied that the Grandmaster can, and in some cases has, used highly advanced technology to augment his abilities and perform feats that might be normally beyond him.[volume & issue needed] While the extent of this is unknown, it is known that the Grandmaster has access and mastery of technology far beyond human comprehension.
The Grandmaster possesses a cosmic life force which renders him virtually immortal, including immunity to aging, disease, poison, and imperviousness to conventional injury through regeneration of any damage. He can survive and travel in space unaided and without food, drink, or air. He can utilize his cosmic life force for a variety of effects, including levitation, the projection of blasts of cosmic energy, teleportation across space and time and alternate dimensions, adjusting his size, control time to interact with beings moving at superhuman speed, or transformation and rearrangement of matter on a planetary scale. Perhaps his most fearsome ability is his power over life and death. The Grandmaster can "will" the death of another being. It is unknown if he can will the death of another virtual immortal being. He can also "resurrect" another being no matter how badly injured or heal a person on the verge of death. He cannot resurrect another virtually immortal being powered by "cosmic life force" like himself or anyone who has died past a certain time point. Lastly, he can temporarily bestow these powers upon another being. Currently, due to his machinations against Death,[volume & issue needed] he and the other Elders cannot die.
He has a highly developed superhuman intellect, with vast knowledge and comprehension of games and game theory far beyond present-day Earth, as well as encyclopedic knowledge of thousands of exotic games played throughout the universe. He can calculate diverse low information probabilities within a tenth of a second and remember countless rules and data. He also possesses certain extra-sensory abilities of mental perception beyond those currently known which enable him to sense things about his surroundings not detectable by normal senses, and maintains a psychic link with the highly advanced computers of his base world, which extend and enhance his mental abilities.
The Grandmaster has access to various exotic extraterrestrial devices as needed, including starships.
In other media
Television
- The Grandmaster appears in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Contest of Champions", voiced by French Tickner.[citation needed]
- The Grandmaster appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Whom Continuity Would Destroy!", voiced by John O'Hurley.[citation needed]
- The Grandmaster appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man four-part episode "Contest of Champions",[31] voiced by Jeff Bennett.[citation needed]
- The Grandmaster appears in the Guardians of the Galaxy episode "Take the Milano and Run", voiced by Jason Spisak.[32]
Film
The Grandmaster makes a cameo appearance in
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Grandmaster appears in media set in the
- The Grandmaster makes a cameo appearance in a mid-credits scene for the live-action film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.[34][35]
- The Grandmaster appears in the live-action film Valkyrie captures him and brings him to the Grandmaster, who forces him to face his "Champion", the Hulk, in gladiatorial combat. However, the Grandmaster rigs the fight when he sees Thor winning. Thor, Hulk, and Valkyrie later escape in one of the Grandmaster's starships after instigating a revolution amongst the gladiators. In the film's post-credits scene, the Grandmaster and his two handmaidens face a group of rebels in a dumping yard and congratulates them.
- Alternate timeline variants of the Grandmaster appear in the Disney+ animated series What If...?[37]
- The Grandmaster was set to return in the live-action film Thor: Love and Thunder,[38] but his scenes were cut.[39]
Video games
- The Grandmaster appears in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet, voiced again by John O'Hurley.[citation needed]
- The Grandmaster appears in Marvel Super Heroes 3D: Grandmaster's Challenge.[citation needed]
- The Grandmaster appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers.[citation needed]
- While the Grandmaster was announced as a playable character for Marvel: Future Fight,[40] he was not released in the associated update.[41]
- The Grandmaster appears as a non-playable character in Marvel Contest of Champions.[citation needed]
References
- ISBN 9780780809772.
- ISBN 978-1605490557.
- ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
- Thanos Quest#2. Marvel Comics.
- ISBN 978-1465455505.
- ^ The Avengers #69-71. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Giant-Size Defenders #3. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Contest of Champions #1-3. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Avengers Annual #16 (1987). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Avengers West Coast #2; The Avengers Annual #16. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 2 #4. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 2 #9. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 2 #10. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 2 #17. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 3 #18. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 3 #19. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Avengers/Ultraforce #1 (1995). Marvel Comics.
- ^ JLA/Avengers#1-4. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Thunderbolts #106. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Thunderbolts #108. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Hulk vol. 2 #10 (2009). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Hulk vol. 2 #12 (June 2009). Marvel Comics.
- ^ X-Men: To Serve and Protect #4 (Feb. 2011). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Contest of Champions vol. 2 #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Avengers #675. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Avengers #684. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Avengers #689. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Empyre: Fantastic Four #0. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 3 #18; Hulk vol. 2 #12 (2009). Marvel Comics.
- ^ "Ultimate Spider-Man - Contest of Champions! - Official Disney XD UK HD". YouTube. 2015-05-07. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
- ^ "Take the Milano and Run". Guardians of the Galaxy. Season 1. Episode 4. October 10, 2015. Disney XD.
- ^ "Why Jeff Goldblum Doesn't Resemble Marvel Comics' Grandmaster in Thor: Ragnarok - IGN". 20 April 2017 – via www.ign.com.
- ^ "The 11 best Easter eggs in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2". Radio Times.
- ^ "There are two fun cameos in the credits of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to keep an eye out for". Flickering Myth. April 26, 2017.
- ^ "News, Blog, Articles & Press Releases". Marvel. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
- ^ Hughes, William (21 July 2019). "Marvel just released an extremely intriguing cast list for Disney+'s animated What If…?". A.V. Club. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- ^ De Semlyen, Phil (June 6, 2016). "Jeff Goldblum talks Thor: Ragnarok's Grandmaster". Empire. Archived from the original on June 7, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
- ^ Miller, Leon (June 30, 2022). "Thor: Love and Thunder Star Confirms Two Major Marvel Characters Were Cut". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 30, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "MARVEL Future Fight - mobirum". Retrieved 2017-10-31.
External links
- Grandmaster at Marvel.com
- Marvel Directory: Grandmaster