Plantman
Plantman | |
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New Enforcers Lethal Legion | |
Notable aliases | Blackheath |
Abilities |
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Plantman is the name of two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics: Samuel Smithers (created by Stan Lee, Joe Carter, and Dick Ayers) and Paul (created by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas), both with the ability to control plants, Samuel via technology and Paul via biology. Samuel also goes by the name Blackheath as a member of the Thunderbolts. In the alternate continuity of Ultimate Marvel universe, Samuel Smithers is depicted as a botanical mutant.
Samuel Smithers / Plantman made his animated debut in The Super Hero Squad Show, voiced by Charlie Adler.
Publication history
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The Samuel Smithers version of Plantman first appeared in Strange Tales #113 and was created by Stan Lee, Jerry Siegel (under the alias of Joe Carter), and Dick Ayers.[1]
The Paul version of Plantman first appeared in The Astonishing Ant-Man #7 and was created by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas.
Fictional character biography
Samuel Smithers
Growing up as a poor
Plantman has often used plant "simuloids" to create duplicates of himself for mercenary endeavors, raising quick cash to continue his research. One of the first known activities of his simuloids was to join his former allies and the original
Next with an army of 1,000 plant simulacra, the true Plantman captured the President of the United States by taking over an American military base. He attempted to take over S.H.I.E.L.D. using simuloids. The Avengers rescued the President, despite Plantman's army and contending with a 100-foot (30 m) tall Tree-Man and Plantman's escape.[11] Hawkeye and the Orb stumbled upon Plantman's mobile plant-growing factory and he expelled them.[12]
During the Acts of Vengeance storyline, Plantman joined with a group of villains to attack the Fantastic Four.[13] Soon after, he tries a solo attack on the Avengers who are visiting a construction site. He is defeated by the site's employees who fear the battle might destroy their hard work.[14]
During Smithers' subsequent prison sentence in Seagate Federal Penitentiary, he was contacted telepathically by
The search ended with Hammer's daughter, Justine, who turned out to be the
Beginning with his time in prison, Smithers had noticed that his body was in the process of mutating, drawing him closer to the energy field that he manipulated to control plants.[volume & issue needed] When the Thunderbolts finally confronted the Crimson Cowl, Smithers was captured and experimented upon to reveal the secrets of the bio-toxin. During this procedure, Smithers' spirit connected with the energy field, the so-called Verdant Green, the embodiment of the Earth's biosphere. The Verdant Green pointed out that Smithers could release the toxin, removing humanity from the biosphere and allowing the plants to flourish as in its pre-industrial days. Instead, Smithers chose to release an antidote for the toxin into the atmosphere and appeared to die in the attempt.[15]
The Thunderbolts ultimately defeated the Cowl and her Masters of Evil,[
After much discussion, most of the costumed heroes and villains chose to part ways. Smithers elected to join the Thunderbolts, hoping that their new mission, to rule the world in order to save it, would closely match his own goals of protecting the Verdant Green from humans. He increasingly began to lose touch with his humanity, increasingly motivated by his connection to the Green.[17]
Blackheath joined the Thunderbolts in many acts of questionable heroism under Zemo's leadership, where the ends justified the means. Zemo's ultimate plan involved the creation of "the Liberator," a device that would drain abnormal uses of energy throughout the world and hopefully reduce global threats, eliminate superhuman terrorism, and stabilize the world's status quo. The Thunderbolts succeeded in launching the Liberator, only to be confronted by the Avengers. Feeling betrayed,
The members of the Thunderbolts agree to go their separate ways, and Smithers agrees to return to prison, hoping to reconnect with his human nature that he felt he was slowly losing.[19]
During the "AXIS" storyline, Plantman appears as a giant plant monster and attacks Los Angeles to retaliate at humans for polluting the world. When a group of Avengers attack, they turn on each other due to the influence of Red Onslaught, a clone of Red Skull with parts of Professor X's brain placed in him. Plantman is defeated by Iron Man.[20]
During the "Avengers: Standoff!" storyline, Plantman is an inmate of Pleasant Hill, a gated community established by S.H.I.E.L.D.[21]
During the "Empyre" storyline, Plantman had laid sieged to Central Park during the Cotati invasion and fought Vision until the fight is taken out of Central Park. When Luke Cage thinks it's a Cotati, Vision states that he is actually Plantman who claims that his goals are similar to the Cotati's goals. Vision tries to reason with Plantman only for him to create Sprout Soldiers out of his plants.[22] Doctor Nemesis, Luke Cage, and Vision continue their fight with Plantman and his Sprout Soldiers. They managed to defeat Plantman, but are unable to make contact with Black Panther.[23]
Paul
A man named Paul used to work as a clerk at a comic book store until his boss fired him stealing comic books with variant covers which he planned to sell to support his gaming hobby. He later attended Power Broker Inc.'s presentation of the Hench X App where Power Broker tests it on Paul. The Hench X App transforms Paul into a new Plantman just as Ant-Man arrives. To further demonstrate the Hench X App, Power Broker has Plantman fight Ant-Man. Due to Plantman's inexperience, Ant-Man managed to have his ants eat Plantman's weaponry before defeating him.[24]
During the "Avengers: Standoff!"' storyline, Plantman was an inmate of Pleasant Hill, a gated community established by S.H.I.E.L.D. Using the powers of Kobik, S.H.I.E.L.D. turned him into an unnamed TV repairman.[25]
Plantman later appears as a member of Baron Helmut Zemo's "New Masters" alongside
Powers and abilities
Originally, the Samuel Smithers version of Plantman used various devices to control plants. He used a chloro-blaster gun which promoted rampant plant growth, a vega-ray gun able to animate any plant, and spore-shooting pistols. He also used large scale cannons able to do what the hand-held chloro-blaster and vega-ray gun would do on a larger scale. Plantman also has the ability to control the movements of his animated plant creatures, called simuloids. Simuloids are humanoid plant life constructs grown from alien spores; they are made of wood and capable of movement and mimicking human life, and are capable of speech and can be programmed as extensively as any hi-tech robot. There are two basic kinds of Simuloids: "Heavies" and "Replicas". Certain Plantman simuloids were programmed with Samuel Smithers' brain patterns to believe they were the original Plantman, thus it is not always clear whether any appearance of Plantman is the actual Plantman. In one instance, a simuloid gained independence to the point that it became a separate, sentient entity, re-christening itself Terraformer and becoming part of the ecological/elemental-themed supervillain team, the
The Paul version of Plantman can control plants and is also made of plants.
Other versions
Marvel Adventures
Samuel Smithers was a scientist who valued plants over people. Smithers donned a plant armor, and became the supervillain Plantman, battling Iron Man, only to meet defeat.[28] Plantman was also hired to attack Tony Stark, but was defeated by a remote controlled Iron Man armor.[29]
Ultimate Marvel
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Samuel Smithers is a botanical mutant.[30]
In other media
The Samuel Smithers version of Plantman appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "O Captain, My Captain" voiced by Charlie Adler.[31] He uses an Infinity Fractal to control the plants in the Amazon rainforest causing Captain America's International All-Captains Squad (consisting of Captain America, Captain Australia, Captain Brazil, Captain Britain, Captain Liechtenstein, and Wolverine as Captain Canada) to fight him and his plant army. He was defeated when Wolverine used the reflective glass to direct the sun beams toward the plant army.
References
- ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
- ^ Strange Tales #113. Marvel Comics.
- ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.[1]
- ^ Strange Tales #121. Marvel Comics.
- ^ X-Men #22-23. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Sub-Mariner #2-3. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Captain America #159. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Defenders #36–37. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Marvel Team-Up #71. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Micronauts #21. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Avengers #231. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Solo Avengers #19-20. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Fantastic Four #334–336. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Avengers Annual #19 (1990). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Thunderbolts #71. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Thunderbolts #65–75. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Thunderbolts #75. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Avengers/Thunderbolts #1–6. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Avengers/Thunderbolts #6. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ All-New, All-Different Avengers #8. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Empyre: Avengers #1-2. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Empyre: Avengers #3. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Astonishing Ant-Man #7. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Captain America: Steve Rogers #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Captain America: Steve Rogers #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ New Warriors #8. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Marvel Adventures: Iron Man #3. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Iron Man: Golden Avenger #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Ultimate Comics: X-Men #18. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Comics Continuum
External links
- Plantman at Marvel.com