BLACK HOLE
Real Name: Morton Kribbee
Identity/Class: Enhanced human
Occupation: Professional Criminal, formerly performed as part of a freak show his using powers
Group Membership: Band of the Bland
Affiliations: Candyman, Doctor Angst, Rocket Racer, Sitting Bullseye, Spanker, Tillie the Hun
Enemies: Critic, Defenders, Howard the Duck, Louise Mason, She-Hulk, Terror (Laslo Pevely), Brent Wilcox
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Ravencroft Mental
Institution;
formerly the planet/base
of the Critic;
formerly Cleveland, Ohio;
First Appearance: Marvel Treasury Edition#12 (1976)
Powers: Black Hole is able to generate a powerful suction, similar to the gravity of a black hole, into the hole in his chest. The hole is apparently a portal to another pocket dimension. There is no known limit to the amount of material he can hold; it is presumably affected by his will power.
History:
(Marvel Treasury Edition#12) - Morton Kribbee claims to have
been mutated by exposure to a grain of white dwarf star matter (I
guess it made sense for the Atom). He was one of four
mediocre would-be super-villains recruited by Dr. Angst to form
the Band of the Bland. Their first mission was to assassinate
Howard the Duck, who was at the time the presidential candidate
for the All Night Party. Angst duped them into believing that
they were in it solely to rise above their current levels and
achieve fame. Angst himself was doing it for profit, as he was
hired by unnamed parties. He also tricked them into believing he
had enhanced their powers with the mystic placebo known as
Promethium. The Band was defeated by Howard and the Defenders.
The Black Hole was presumably sent to prison. After he was
released from prison, he made a living as part of a freak show,
where he used his powers to suck objects into his hole.
(Sensational She-Hulk#15-17) - Fourteen years later (Marvel time), Angst escaped from prison to instrument a plot he had begun at the time of his imprisonment. Angst convinced Kribbee and the rest of the Band to reorganize and assist him in his plot, the Cosmic Squish Principle. Essentially, Angst sought to release a multitude of previous compacted pocket universes, the Encroachiverses, to squish the rest of the Earth dimension. He established five locus points in five equally mediocre places: a square block in Manhattan including Rad Ronin Fujiyama Funhous; Henderson, Nevada; El Segundo, California; most of New Jersey; and the planet Sqazzl. Within these five loci, Angst would create a new universe, the Insipiverse, which they could rule. This plot was foiled by a team composed of Howard (surprisingly enough), the Critic, Louise Mason, She-Hulk, the Terror, and Brent Wilcox. She-Hulk held open Kribbee's hole, forcing him to suck up all of the Encroachiverses. The Critic then took Kribbee back to his base, where he forced him to continue to hold them.
(Carnage: It's a Wonderful Life) - What became of the Encroachiverses is unknown.
He may have permanently absorbed them, or they may have been
shunted to another realm by the Critic. Black Hole was later seen as one
of the inmates as at Ravencroft, a mental institution for insane
superhuman criminals.
(Revenge of the Sinister Six (fb) - BTS) - Black Hole, Rocket Racer and the Candyman attacked a Fifth Avenue Swiss Currency Exchange, but were swiftly overpowered by Spider-Man.
Profile by Snood.
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema & Klaus Janson.
Kribbee had a fetish for sucking down larger and larger objects. It is difficult to describe his ability in a serious tone.
The novel appearance is mentioned on the first page of Ch.5
(p106 in my Combo edition). It's suggestive, but not certain, that the three
were working together. It does seem a little out of character for the reformed
Rocket Racer, but I know he's had relapses. And it's definitely this Black Hole,
as the text mentions he'd once been defeated by the girlfriend of a talking
duck.
--Loki
Maybe he had another, unrevealed encounter with Howard, as I don't recall
Beverly ever defeating the Black Hole.
Clarifications: The Black Hole has no connection to:
images: (without ads)
Sensational She-Hulk#17, p17, pan7 (Black Hole main image)
(Black Hole first appearance)
Sensational She-Hulk#16, p12, pan7 (Morton Kribbee)
Other appearances:
Sensational She-Hulk#15-17 (May-July, 1990) - Steve Gerber (writer), Bryan Hitch (pencils), Jim Sanders III (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Carnage: It's a Wonderful Life (October, 1996) - David Quinn (writer), Kyle Hotz (pencils/inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Last updated: 05/28/06
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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