WALRUS

Real Name: Hubert Carpenter

Identity/Class: Enhanced… err… Altered Human

Occupation: Mass-Destructionist (in his own words), former cab driver

Affiliations: Mr. Fish, part of the Terrible Two, along with the White Rabbit

Enemies: The Defenders, Frog-Man (Eugene Patillo), Spider-Man and Leap-Frog (Vincent Patillo)

Known Relatives: Humbert Carpenter (uncle)

Aliases: The White Rabbit called him nimwit. I think it suits him fine.. He also considered the names: The Crimson Turkey, Captain Stoat, Squirrel Man, and The Masked Tapir (yes, seriously).

Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York

Base of Operations: New York; formerly based out of the basement of the Home Economics Building of Brooklyn University

First Appearance: Defenders I#131 (May, 1984)

Powers: Proportionate strength, agility and speed of a walrus. Since he’s smaller than walruses, that means he’s weaker (but still pretty strong), slower and less agile than them. He has the wonderful ability of making every opponent lose focus and start laughing uncontrollably whenever he speaks.

See the proportion?

Height: 6'
Weight: 360 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History: (Defenders I#131) - The Walrus was created when his Uncle Humbert, a janitor, had a go at some technology, and after many tries managed to give Hubert (the nephew) super-powers. Humbert claimed to be the greatest scientific mind of their age, but it took over ten years for him to successfully empower Hubert. Along the way there were a few pitfulls. They once tried Zeta-Beams which only altered the molecular structure of his underwear. There were other problems, too, but we need not get into those.
    Anway, they finally succeeded with Humbert's Omicron Ray generator. While Uncle Humbert considered a field trial for his nephew, Hubert was stuck trying to come up with a name. After years of trials, he'd exhausted the names of animals he could have the proportional strength of, up to the letter "W." He was stumped until he saw a poster of his favorite band, The Beatles, who's album "The Magical Mystery Tour" gave him the inspiration he needed. He would become a creature of the night! "I--Am--The Walrus! Goo-Goo-Gah-Joob!"
    Anyway again, since Hubert was stupid enough to allow his uncle to experiment on him, so when his uncle pointed him toward evil ways, he gladly went on a spree of mass destruction. Uncle Humbert saw that the Beast was lecturing at Brooklyn University, and so sent Hubert to destroy him. Quoth Humbert, "You must prove yourself the greatest product of modern science! Kill him--and we'll be on the Phil Donahue show within a week!"

Hubert attacked the Beast, who was assisted by his friends, the Angel and Iceman, all part of the New Defenders. These guys failed to take him seriously (I wonder why?), and the Walrus actually smashed the met of the air (from one of Iceman's ice-ramps) with a big tree he'd uprooted. The heroes were momentarily stunned, but the Walrus' last big meal started to catch up with him. Frog-Man (who'd been present, and had been turned down for a membership in the Defenders a few minutes before) tackled the Walrus, but was swatted away. Frog-Man's attack didn't hurt the Walrus in the least, but the combination of too many "Kwikkee Burgers" and the fading power of the Omicron rays...that's what did him in. The Walrus passed out, and Frog-Man got the credit for defeating the villain who'd overpowered the Defenders.

(Spectacular Spider-Man II#185) - In his second appearance (last to date) he was contacted by the White Rabbit to form the Terrible Two, whose goal was set on killing Frog-Man II, since he had defeated her as well. In fact, her idea was to form the Terrible Four, but Speed Demon and Yellow Claw, the other guys who Frog-Man II defeated, didn't want to tarnish their reputation by associating with her.
Now, once again we have the Walrus being talked into something stupid, as he starts wreaking havoc in Brooklyn. The White Rabbit follows his lead, and tells the reporters who arrive to cover the story, that they won't stop unless Frog-Man II surrenders to her. Spider-Man is dining at Eugene's house, because he couldn’t say no to an invitation from Eugene, and sees that on TV. He swings for Brooklyn, with Leapfrog I (Vincent Patilio) secretly on his trail, and Frog-Man II secretly on the trail of them both. Spidey dodges a punch from the Walrus, bragging about how fast he was, to which the Walrus responds:
"Yeah, well - Don't underestimate ME, pal! For your information, I've got the proportionate speed, strength and agility of a WALRUS!"

With this, both Spider-Man and I started to laugh. Since Hubert is smaller than a walrus, he just stated he's slower and less agile than any normal walrus. He gets mad and punches Spidey, who was too busy bent over laughing to avoid it. As Spidey gets up, Leapfrog I arrives and announces himself as Frog-Man.He dodges the Walrus' attempts to punch him and knocks him down with a powerful hook. The Rabbit tries to kill Leapfrog I, but she's knocked out by the arriving, clumsy, and out of control Frog-Man (Eugene). The Walrus gets up, and Spidey sees it as an opportunity to shine, since he’s been surpassed by a couple of frogs on live TV: he taps him with one finger and the Walrus goes down for the second and last time tonight.

(Daughters of the Dragon#4) - The Walrus visited an exotic dance club with Mr. Fish, and watched an overweight dancer.

Comments: Although it isn't mentioned, his intelligence must also be proportionate to that of a walrus. Naive and dumb... very dumb

Fat and dumb. Also wears ridiculous costume made to resemble a walrus, complete with tusks and a big rainbow colored "W" on his chest.

Did I mention he’s really dumb?--How dumb is he? Well, as pointed out, if he had the proportionate strength of a Walrus, he'd be weaker than one, because he's smaller. He's actually somewhere in the class 5-10 range, able to smash a hole through a solid brick wall with minimal effort.

Walrus got his own entry in the Spider-Man - Back in Black Handbook.

Created through a brilliant example of international collaboration, via Henrique Ferreira and Jeff Christiansen (Snood).

Clarifications: The Walrus shouldn’t be confused with:

A real Walrus. They’re stronger, quicker, smarter, and can learn nifty tricks.

Which one is the comics character? Can you figure it out?

Uncle Humbert was a would-be mad scientist, but he was hampered by faulty calibrations, erratic instruments, denials of his grants, only being able to get a job as a janitor--that sort of thing. Along the way, he must have been mutated as well. While testing the hubert's new powers, he lifted a large oak beam and smashed it into him. When questioned how he did that, he quickly changed the subject. Anyway, Humbert directed his nephew by radio in his attack, but...
Walrus: "Woo Woo! Mass Destruction!"
Humbert: "No, No Hubert! NOT more Mass Destruction! Destroy the Defenders! Mass Destruction is only the Six O'Clock news!"
Woman next to Humbert: "Mister, would you mind getting your hand away from there?"
Anyway, after the Walrus passed out in mid-fight, Humbert took off, planning further attempts at more permanent powers...and a better name: "Let's see--Weasel Man--The Caped Wombat--Captain Wildebeest--that sounds good..."