LEONARD TIPPITLEONARD TIPPIT
Real Name: Leonard Tippit
Identity/Class: Human, mutate
Occupation: Currently unknown, former accountant
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Agent of the Watcher
Enemies: Avengers, Comrade Sporadnik, Mario Rizzo, unnamed daughter of a Massai Chief, Keigo Ozaki, Eliza Willis
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Currently trapped outside of the space/time continuum, formerly mobile throughout the earth
First Appearance: Avengers I#101(July 1972)
Powers: Leonard Tippit originally had no superhuman powers. However, the Watcher apparently activated the "Destiny Force" within Tippit's mind. The Destiny Force is the name for the virtually unlimited psionic powers potentially possessed by all human beings. The Watcher prematurely awakened these powers in Tippit, therefore he never attained the level of power possessed by Rick Jones or Franklin Richards. However, Tippit still possessed vast superhuman power. He could fire bolts of energy powerful enough to down Thor, teleport anywhere on the face of the Earth, and charge his body with energy that disrupted the Vision while he was intangible. Tippit eventually exhausted these powers battling the Avengers and teleporting around the world, but apparently they could return since the Watcher felt the need to lock him away forever. Tippit apparently did not possess superhuman strength, as he was knocked out by a single blow from Captain America.
History: (Avengers I#101) - The Avengers were hosting a chess match between a Communist chess master named Sporadnik and a computer known as Nimrod. During the match, the Vision becomes suspicious when the computer made a move that had been previously demonstrated to be ineffective. When Sporadnik moved a pawn in response to the move, he suddenly collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital where Thor (as Donald Blake) operated on him. Blake and the Avengers found that the pawn had been poisoned with a rare Brazillian toxin. The only hope for Sporadnik was to find the poisoner.
The Vision lurked intangibly inside Nimrod, hoping to catch the saboteur. Indeed, late that night, Tippit emerged from Nimrod's mainframe (hey, it was 1972). Tippit began to glow with power, and the Vision attempted to defeat him by reaching his hand inside Tippit's chest and solidifying it. Instead, Tippit's energy caused feedback which rendered the Vision unconscious. However, Captain America arrived on the scene and knocked Tippit out with a blow from his shield. Before the Avengers could apprehend him, Tippit vanished. 
Tippit was next seen in his bed, when suddenly the Watcher appeared to him. The Watcher told Tippit that he must kill five people (including Sporadnik) scattered across the globe. If he did not, each person would have a child that would touch off a chain of events that would destroy every Earth in every alternate reality. Somehow, the Watcher's conversation with Tippit reached the Avengers who set out to stop him. However, the Avengers arrived too late to save the first three victims who were all rendered comatose. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were guarding the last target, Eliza Willis. Tippit blasted her into a coma, but when he tried to teleport away, the Scarlet Witch encased him in a hex-sphere. The feedback knocked Tippit unconscious.
The twins brought Tippit back to Avengers Mansion, where Iron Man placed a "mentality-retrogressor" helmet on Tippit to keep him subdued. Suddenly the Watcher appeared and stated he had guided Iron Man to build the helmet. The Avengers thought he had come to free Tippit, but the Watcher had other plans. He revealed that the five victims were not the true threat, Tippit was. Tippit's power would've caused the destruction of all realities. Therefore, the Watcher activated Tippit's power and set up a false threat for him to battle and set the Avengers against him. The Watcher hoped that between teleporting around the globe and fighting the Avengers, Tippit's power would be exhausted long enough for him to trap Tippit outside of space and time forever. The Avengers were prepared to fight a hopeless battle against the Watcher to free Tippit, but Tippit pleaded with them to allow him to go. Tippit said he had never been much in his life, and he relished the chance to be "the man who saved the world." The Avengers agreed and let the Watcher take Tippit outside of space and time forever.
Comments: Created by Harlan Ellison, Roy Thomas, and Rich Buckler.
The Watcher said Tippit was neither a winner nor a loser. I have to disagree, he was definitely a loser. This was one of the worst stories I ever read. Second person narration, contrived storyline, the Watcher violating his oath without even an attempt at rationalization while endangering innocent people for a needlessly convoluted plan. The Watcher could've at least set him against a real villain or tipped off the Avengers earlier so that the Vision could've been ready with the helmet when he first confronted him. To make matters worse, the Avengers barely commented on the five comatose civillians; Hawkeye said "he just knew" they'd be alright. That would make ME feel better if a glowing accountant blasted me into a coma. Ick.
Didn't they make a connection between the power of Tippit and the Destiny Force that Rick Jones accessed during Avengers Forever?--Snood
Profile by Chuck D
Clarifications: None
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Last updated: 12/19/02
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