Graviton (comics)

Graviton (Franklin Hall) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Jim Shooter and artist Sal Buscema, he first appeared in The Avengers #158, dated April 1977.^[1] Over the years, he has mainly opposed the Avengers in their various incarnations.

Originally a gravity researcher, Franklin Hall gains the ability to control gravity. Corrupted by this power, he becomes a supervillain using the name "Graviton". He is confronted and defeated by the Avengers as he tried to destroy the facility where he did his original research. In subsequent appearances Graviton seems to struggle with control of his powers and often loses because of this. More than one storyline has depicted Graviton's apparent death, only for him to return subsequently through various means. He later becomes part of Advanced Idea Mechanics' High Council as "Minister of Science".

Graviton has appeared in Marvel television series, such as The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Fred Tatasciore. Additionally, Franklin Hall, appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., portrayed by Ian Hart, while the Graviton identity is filled by Glenn Talbot, portrayed by Adrian Pasdar.

Publication history

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Graviton first appears in The Avengers #158 (April 1977) and was created by Jim Shooter and Sal Buscema.

Fictional character biography

Franklin Hall is a Canadian^[2] physicist involved in an experiment in a private research facility in the Canadian Rockies. A mistake in Hall's calculations causes graviton particles to be merged with his own molecules, and Hall later discovers that he can mentally control gravity.^[3] Hall at first tries to hide his newfound ability, but becomes tempted by the potential power, and donning a costume adopts the alias "Graviton".^[4]

When Graviton takes over the research facility and forbids all communications with the outside world, a fellow scientist sends a distress signal to the superhero team the

Under unrevealed circumstances, Graviton returned to Earth once more and was rendered powerless long enough to be imprisoned on the Raft with other superhuman criminals. However, when Electro shorted out the Raft's defenses to free Sauron, Graviton and dozens of other inmates escaped, only to be confronted by the heroes who would soon organize as the latest incarnation of the Avengers.^[18] Although recaptured, Graviton evidently sustained a head injury that somehow greatly dampened his powers, making him much less powerful than at his previous encounter with the Thunderbolts. He also was more megalomaniacal than ever during his next escape, declaring himself capable of forgiving and punishing sins. The reorganized Avengers again fought him at Ryker's, and after wounding Captain America and Spider-Man, Graviton was downed and almost killed by an Extremis enhanced Iron Man.^[19]

After battling Iron Man once again, having been framed for murder by an associate of the

During the 2016 "Avengers: Standoff!" storyline, Graviton was shown in a training video for the S.H.I.E.L.D. Cadets working in the gated community Pleasant Hill being subjected to the Cosmic Cube-derived technology "Kobik", which turned him into a mild-mannered Pleasant Hill chef named Howie Howardson.^[24]

In the 2017 "Secret Empire" storyline, Graviton is recruited by Baron Helmut Zemo to join the Army of Evil.^[25]

Powers and abilities

Franklin Hall was a normal human until empowered by an explosion that intermingled his molecules with sub-nuclear graviton particles generated by a nearby particle generator, which gave him the ability to manipulate gravitons (the subatomic particles that carry the force of gravitational attraction) and anti-gravitons (similar particles but with opposite force and spin of gravitons). Graviton could surround any person or object, including himself, with gravitons or anti-gravitons, thereby increasing or decreasing the pull of gravity upon it. Hall was able to manipulate gravitons for various uses, including the projection of highly concussive blasts, formation of gravitational force fields and levitation, and had also been proven capable of generating gravitational fields in various objects, making them attract any nearby matter (or individuals) not heavy enough or physically strong enough to resist. By decreasing the pull of gravity beneath him, then manipulating its direction of effect, he could fly at any speed or height at which he could still breathe. However, by using his force field generation capabilities he could also breathe in space. By increasing the pull of gravity beneath his opponents, he could pin them to the ground, having made them too heavy to move, or cause sufficient gravitational stress to impair the normal functioning of the human cardiovascular system. He could also cause an inanimate object (such as a 1-foot (0.30 m) diameter rock) to radiate enough gravitons to enormously increase its own gravitational field, able to attract nearby matter and energy.

By rapidly projecting gravitons in a cohesive beam, he could generate a force blast with a maximum concussive force equivalent to the primary shockwave of an explosion of 20,000 pounds of TNT. He could also create a gravitational force field around him capable of protecting him from any concussive force up to and including a small nuclear weapon.

On a large scale Graviton could exert his gravitational control over a maximum distance of 2.36 miles (3.80 km) from his body. Thus, the maximum volume of matter he could influence at once is 55.1 cubic miles (230 km³). He once exercised this control by lifting into the air an inverted conic frustum-shaped land mass whose uppermost area was 4 miles (6.4 km) across, and causing it to fly as though it were a blimp.^[26] He could also erect a gravitational force-field of similar proportions. Graviton could formerly perform as many as four separate tasks simultaneously – at one time, he not only lifted a 4-mile (6.4 km) wide land mass as high as cloud level above San Francisco, but at the same time also surrounded himself with a force-field, descended on a small rock, and hurled some policemen and a helicopter 10,000 miles (16,000 km) into orbit.^[27] Graviton could use his power at maximum capacity for up to eight hours before mental fatigue significantly impaired his performance, and considerably longer (up to eighteen hours) if he conserved his energy during that time.

He was somehow also able to bestow the power of self-propelled flight to at least 70 people independent from his location; however he was also able to take this power away with but a thought.^[27]

With time and training, his powers further advanced, even to the extent of levitating an island miles above ground level,^[26] exerting his power even while sleeping,^[28] somewhat reshaping mountains on the Moon,^[29] and demonstrating the ability to lift a small stone in China while residing in L.A., then depositing it in Australia through a victim's head just to see if he could do so.^[30] By separating himself from Earth's gravitational field and instead attuning himself to the incredibly stronger gravitational field of the Sun, he was able to cross the distance from Earth to the Sun almost instantaneously, where his individual force field proved strong enough to withstand the forces of the Sun itself, effectively simulating long-range teleportation.^[31] To return from the Sun to Earth he utilized the Sun's gravitational field as a form of slingshot device and was able to cross the distance to Earth within minutes.^[31]

Hall's single most ambitious display of power was when he held almost every Marvel hero in stasis, including the Fantastic Four, some of the X-Men and such physical powerhouses as Thor, Hercules, the Hulk and Namor, and began using his powers to try reshaping the Earth in his image.^[32]

He also had the ability to detect extra-dimensional-shifts and phased or invisible objects through his immediate awareness of gravitational fluctuation^[33][34] and while he was not able to invoke dimensional portals,^[33] he was at least able to close them.^[34] He could simulate vast superhuman strength and durability using gravitonic fields to surround his body, but he could not actually manipulate density or increase his physical strength.

Aside from his powers to manipulate gravity, Hall had a PhD in Physics and was intellectually brilliant, with expertise in advanced physics, including teleportation. His greatest limitation was that he was emotionally and mentally very disturbed.

In other media

Television

• Graviton appears in
  Raft. A decade later, a technological malfunction enables Hall to escape and seek revenge on Fury, only to be foiled by Thor, the Wasp, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Ant-Man
  .
• Several characters inspired by Graviton appear in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
  • Dr.
    John Garrett gives the gravitonium back to Quinn.^[39] In a flashback depicted in the fifth season episode "Inside Voices", Quinn was also absorbed by the gravitonium following Garrett's defeat and has been arguing with Hall inside the substance ever since before Hydra eventually reclaimed it.^[40]
  • During the fifth season,
    Elena Rodriguez and S.H.I.E.L.D. recovers the remaining gravitonium.^[43]
  • Later that season, when S.H.I.E.L.D. comes under attack by alien warriors sent by the Confederacy,
    Glenn Talbot (portrayed by Adrian Pasdar^[44]) infuses himself with the remaining gravitonium, along with Hall and Quinn's consciousnesses, and uses his new abilities to kill the warriors before taking Coulson to confront the Confederacy, who they learn intend to stop Thanos.^[45] Becoming increasingly narcissistic and unhinged under the corrupting influence of the gravitonium however, Talbot forces his way into the group and attempts to absorb more gravitonium until he is defeated by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Daisy Johnson.^{[46][47][48][49][50][51]}
• Graviton appears in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers as a member of the Masters of Evil.^{[citation needed]}