MARK EWING
Real Name: Mark Ewing
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Newspaper reporter
Group Membership: Daily Bugle
Affiliations: Ben Urich
Enemies: Control, Edward Harrison, Jackal, Spidercide
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New York City, USA
First Appearance: Conspiracy#1 (February, 1998)
Powers/Abilities: Mark Ewing is a very talented, although somewhat gullible, reporter.
History:
(Conspiracy#1/Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Omega (BTS)) - Mark Ewing was
a reporter at the Daily Bugle when a skirmish between the Jackal and
Spidercide slammed into the building and destroyed his computer. In the
aftermath, he discovered an envelope left behind by former Bugle
reporter Cliff Garner
in the wreckage that had been sealed up in the ruined wall near his
workspace. Containing an old key, photographs and declassified
documents, the envelope seemed to suggest a conspiracy within the high
echelons of the Federal Government and the United States Military.
Trying to pick up a lead in the old story, Ewing attracted the attention of a mysterious man in shadow who confronted him and offered to let him in on Garner’s research. Intimidated by the presence, Ewing shrugged him off and left to meet his girlfriend Monique, but then watched in horror as an attempt on his life killed her and then destroyed his apartment.
Running for his life, Ewing depleted his bank account and fled for Punios Verde, New Mexico, a city ruined some time before by one of the Hulk’s rampages. The key opened the safe deposit box of the local bank there, but it was also wired into a flash bomb that blinded and then knocked Ewing out cold. He awoke in the back of a van driven by Cliff Garner who drove him to Sallow Springs, New Mexico to meet General Edward Harrison who was hiding out in one of the secret bases Bruce Banner once used in the early years of being the Hulk. Harrison then realized that Garner was an LMD (Life Model Decoy) created to flush him out of hiding and blew him away with his gun. Taking Ewing with him, he escaped in a SHIELD Flying Car he had taken from SHIELD as SHIELD fired on him.
(Conspiracy#2) - Ewing and Harrison ended up in the Sanctuary, a deserted base created by and then left behind by Thanos. As Harrison rambled on about how the government and the military had worked together to create incidents that ended up creating super-humans, SHIELD once more tracked them down. Harrison accused Ewing of being a SHIELD agent and attempted to kill him as the power was cut off. Ewing escaped in the confusion and ended up in SHIELD’s custody; Dum-Dum Dugan interrogated and then debriefed him. Ewing was told that the so-called conspiracy was a hoax imagined by and perpetuated by Harrison who was looking for a news reporter to reveal it to the public.
Sent back to New York, Ewing was once more confronted by the mysterious stranger in shadow. Blaming him for his sudden adversity, Ewing was again presented with more clues to an actual conspiracy. This led Mark to the discovery of Nirvana Ranch, Bolivar Trask's abandoned Aspen ranch. Mark planned to investigate, and placed his research and notes on a computer disc to be opened in the event of his death. He then turned around to acknowledge a stranger in his room...
Comments: Created by Dan Abnett and Igor Kordey.
It is not actually revealed if Ewing was killed for knowing too much. He was last seen turning around and acknowledging another stranger in the room with him.
According to the "conspiracy", an unknown agency known as Control comprised of certain high-ranking military personnel such as Colonel Harrison, General Cecil B. Slinkard, General Thaddeus Ross, General Lewis Haywerth, Howard Stark and Bolivar Trask financed scientific masterminds such as Reed Richards, Henry Pym, Bruce Banner, Charles Xavier, Theodore "Ted Sallis, Dr. Otto Octavius, Elias Starr, Myron MacLain and Calvin Zabo into creating the known heroes of Earth and indirectly its villains. Part of the purpose was allegedly to give the military a reason to create objects of destruction. As Dum-Dum Dugan pointed out to Ewing, Harrison’s scenario does seem to have its own sort of logic and structure as the facts seem to fit together (Will U: "It’s the same reasoning I use on my gods and goddesses research."), but as yet, there is definitive proof that such an organization as Control exists or once existed within the United States Government of the Marvel Universe. On the other hand, if witnesses say the shots came from the grassy knoll and Oswald was placed in the cafeteria before Kennedy was shot, why hasn’t there been...whoops, wrong conspiracy. Or is it?
One wonders of this whole conspiracy was orchestrated and invented by the great trickster himself, Loki, as a game on mortals.
by Will U
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mark Ewing should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Other appearances:
Conspiracy#2 (March, 1998) - Dan Abnett (writer), Igor Kordey (artist), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Last updated: 11/10/03
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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