Gravity (character)

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Gravity
Abilities

Gravity is a

fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Sean McKeever and Mike Norton, who wanted to create their own character inspired by the college-aged Spider-Man from the 1980s they grew up with.[1]

Publication history

He first appeared in Gravity #1 (Aug. 2005) and was created by Sean McKeever and Mike Norton.[2]

Gravity's first appearance was in his own limited series: Gravity #1-5 (2005), later released as a digest-formatted graphic novel as part of the Marvel Next imprint aimed at younger readers. In the same year, Gravity was featured in Marvel Holiday Special (2005) in a minor role.

The character's next appearance was in the crossover storyline

Black Panther vol. 4 #27 (2007). Gravity then had minor appearances in Fantastic Four #556 (2008), Avengers: The Initiative #17-19 (2008–2009), Avengers: The Initiative Special #1 (2009), Fantastic Four #563 (2009), Avengers: The Initiative #25 (2009) and Avengers Academy
#13 (2011).

A solo storyline in Age of Heroes #2 (2010) provided the prologue to Gravity's next appearance as a member of the Young Allies in Young Allies #1-6 (2010–2011) then later in Onslaught Unleashed #1-4 (2011). Gravity was prominently featured in the "Fear Itself" tie-in series Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #1-6 (2011).

Fictional character biography

Greg Willis was born and raised in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. During the summer after his high school graduation, while on board his family's yacht, Greg is sucked into a mysterious black hole. He is found hours later by his parents, unharmed. After the incident, Greg finds that he is able to manipulate the gravitational force around his body and nearby objects.[3] Looking to take advantage of his new powers, Greg moves east to New York City to study licensing and merchandising at New York University, and becomes a marketable member of the superhero community known as Gravity.[4]

On his first outing, Gravity encounters a battle between

Shocker, and Whirlwind. However, Black Death takes a special interest in Gravity, appearing numerous times to humiliate the new hero. Black Death then masquerades as a hero known as the Greenwich Guardian (Black Death's identity before becoming a supervillain) to further break Gravity's confidence and use him in a plot to destroy the university. Ultimately, his resolve is too strong for Black Death and the villain is defeated. After the battle, Gravity is congratulated by Spider-Man, filling him with confidence. Finally feeling accepted, Gravity begins a relationship with his friend Lauren and continues his superhero career.[5] Gravity later revealed his double identity to Lauren.[6]

Beyond

After defeating a villain called Brushfire, Gravity stumbles upon a mysterious structure in

Uatu appears. The presence of a Watcher unnerves the Stranger, who then allows the group to leave peacefully, and disappears. Without the Stranger's power, the planet begins to pull itself apart. Gravity uses his powers to hold the planet together and allows the rest of the group to escape. He uses the last of his power to join the group on the spaceship, but dies shortly afterwards. The remaining heroes and villains attend Gravity's funeral to pay their respects for his actions. Later, Uatu stands by Gravity's grave, waiting to witness a cosmic destiny.[7]

Return and Initiative

When Gravity's grave is desecrated and his body is stolen,

Thing) to find his fallen comrade. Following a cosmic residue left behind at the graveyard, the team ventures into deep space to discover that Gravity's body has been stolen and resurrected by Epoch as the new Protector of the Universe. To protect Epoch from being consumed, Gravity empties his new cosmic-level powers into Galactus and returns to Earth to see his parents and Lauren once more.[8] Later, when the Fantastic Four are fighting alongside Doctor Strange and the Silver Surfer to save Eternity from death, Uatu seeks out Gravity's help to act as a "scalpel" to cut out the infected portions of the universe, fulfilling his cosmic destiny. Uatu informs Gravity that his secret identity (revealed after his demise) has been magically restored.[9]

Gravity later joins the

Hardball, Nonstop, and Telemetry.[11]

The Heavy Hitters are one of the few teams not to be infiltrated by the

Prodigy. Gravity was transferred to Wisconsin as leader of the Great Lakes Avengers, much to his dismay.[13]

Young Allies

With the fall of Osborn's Initiative, and the abolishment of the

Bastards of Evil. In retaliation, Gravity angrily beats the villain unconscious, and finds renewed reason to continue to be a hero.[14]

Returning to his studies at New York University, Gravity finds himself with his friends Lauren and Frog once more. The return of Warhead and the Bastards of Evil, an anarchist group claiming to be the estranged children of supervillains, brings Gravity together with fellow hero and university student Firestar. However, their team-up isn't enough to stop Warhead from detonating his powers, killing himself and many others around him at

Leader, the creator of the Bastards of Evil.[15] Teaming-up with the Secret Avengers, Gravity and his new young allies fight the entity known as Onslaught, where he was forced to kill Nomad, who was revealed to be just a construct made by Onslaught himself so he could use the energy he had stored in her as an anchor to pull himself back into Earth-616, so that Onslaught could not return and destroy Earth.[16]

Fear Itself

When

Las Vegas, Nevada, Gravity confronts him, blaming him for his carelessness. Komodo and Firestar quickly break it up. They later battle Thor Girl, when she regains her designate powers.[17]

Spider-Island

During the Spider-Island storyline, the Young Allies are seen defending New York. On the Hudson River bridge, Gravity fights against the Spider-King. Venom arrived and fought the Spider-King, spotting Gravity and threw him in the air. Spider-King approached him and threatened to kill him if he did not step aside. Gravity fell down on the spider-beast and knocked him out.[18] Working with the other Avengers, they are able to save New York.[19] Gravity was among the many heroes attacked by Carrion who posed as the Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius's mind in Spider-Man's body).[20]

Young Avengers

Gravity was among the group of young heroes who arrived when the Young Avengers called "Avengers Assemble". They were nicknamed Thin Spandex Line.[21] Together they battled Mother, a dangerous inter-dimensional parasite.[22]

Powers and abilities

After being sucked into a mysterious

gravitons in various ways. He can manipulate his own gravity, enabling him to fly and simulate superhuman strength. Gravity is able to attract or repel the weight of objects around himself.[23]

Other versions

Marvel Zombies: Dead Days

Gravity has a minor cameo appearance in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (2007). He is seen attempting to eat Nova who manages to evade him.

Marvel Apes

A primate version of Gravity appears in the Marvel Apes titles Marvel Apes: Evolution Starts Here #1 (2009) and Marvel Apes: Speedball Special #1 (2009).

What If?

Various alternative versions of Gravity appear in the What If? storylines What If? Secret Wars #1 (2009), What If? House of M #1 (2009), What If? Spider-Man of House of M #1 (2009), and What If? Secret Invasion #1 (2010) in minor and cameo roles.

League of Losers

Gravity appeared in

Mutant 2099, a native of the future timeline, the group is able to defeat Chronok. However, they are unable to travel back to their original timeline and are forced to remain in the future. Gravity and the rest of the group accept their fate and take peace in the knowledge that they have saved the world, even if their sacrifice goes unnoticed.[25]

In other media

Television

  • Gravity has a non-voiced cameo appearance in
    Taskmaster
    .

Reception

IGN praised the Gravity comics, comparing the comics favorably to the classic Spider-Man comics.[citation needed] The character of Gravity was awarded Best New Comic Character for 2005 by IGN.[citation needed]

Collected editions

Title Material collected Published date ISBN
Gravity: Big-City Super Hero Gravity #1-5 December 2005 978-0785117988

References

  1. ^ "How to create your own original superhero from scratch".
  2. .
  3. ^ Gravity #5 (2005)
  4. ^ Gravity #1 (2005)
  5. ^ Gravity #1-5 (2005)
  6. ^ a b Beyond! #1 (2006)
  7. ^ Beyond! #1-6 (2006)
  8. ^ Fantastic Four #545-546 (2007)
  9. ^ Fantastic Four #550 (2007)
  10. ^ "Christos Gage (author) Comments". Newsarama.com forums. Retrieved 2008-05-23.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ a b Avengers: The Initiative Special #1 (2009)
  12. ^ Avengers: The Initiative #17-19 (2008-2009)
  13. ^ Avengers: The Initiative #25 (2009)
  14. ^ Age of Heroes #2 (2010)
  15. ^ Young Allies #1-6 (2010-2011)
  16. ^ Onslaught Unleashed #1-4 (2011)
  17. ^ Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #1-6 (2011)
  18. ^ Venom vol. 2 #6 (2011)
  19. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #671-673 (2011-12)
  20. ^ Superior Spider-Man Team Up #1 (2013)
  21. ^ Young Avengers vol. 2 #11 (2013)
  22. ^ Young Avengers vol. 2 #12-14 (2014)
  23. ^ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 #4 (September 2008)
  24. ^ Marvel Team-Up #15 (2006)
  25. ^ Marvel Team-Up #16-18 (2006)

External links