GUS

Real Name: Inapplicable

Identity/Class: Cosmic matter construct (see comments)

Occupation: None;
    former Damage Control intern, student

Group Membership: Formerly Damage Control (Lenny Ballinger, Robin Chapel, Albert Cleary, Dave, Stanley Forbush, Anne Marie Hoag, Jay, Jerry the Accountant, Nathan, Bart Rozum, Eugene Strausser, Trull the Unhuman, others)

Affiliations: Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Black Tarantula (Carlos LaMuerto), Blade (Eric Brooks), Damage Control, Dazzler (Alison Blaire), Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), Doctor Voodoo (Jericho Drumm), Forge, Nick Fury, Jr., the Galactus Seed, Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Ghost-Spider (Gwen Stacy of Earth-94), Groot, Hercules (Heracles), the Hood (Parker Robbins), Howard the Duck, KLJT-Man (Burr Dalen), the Leader (Samuel Sterns), Loki (Loki Laufeyson), Madame Masque (Giulietta Nefaria), Magneto (Max Eisenhardt), Man-Thing (Ted Sallis), Mephisto, M.O.D.O.K. (George Tarleton), Mole Man (Harvey Elder), Moloids, Moon Knight (Marc Spector), Morbius (Michael Morbius), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Namor the Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie), Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Punisher (Frank Castle), Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), the Red Skull (Johann Shmidt), Rocket Raccoon, Rooster, Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Thor (Thor Odinson), Trentonn the Terrible (Chad), Wasp (Nadia Van Dyne), Werewolf by Night (Jake Gomez), White Tiger (Ava Ayala), Wolverine (James Howlett), Mrs. Worley, the Wrecking Crew (Bulldozer/Henry Camp, Piledriver/Brian Calusky, Thunderball/Eliot Franklin, Wrecker/Dirk Garthwaite)

Enemies: D'Andre DeAngelo, Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Green Goblin (Norman Osborn), Heavy Metal (Jocasta, Sentinel A3, Sentry#459, Tess-One, X-52, numerous other Sentinels), the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), Rocko (Kingpin's thug), Thing (Ben Grimm)

Known Relatives: Galan (Galactus, creator); several unidentified foster parents

Aliases: TheGusinator (social media screenname);
    "Bub," "Buddy," "Gabe," "Gary," "Gil," "Gordon" (names called by others);
    Cash, the Cruiser, Dash, Ham, the Henderson, Juice, Oates, Play, Plenty, Savory, Soul, Tired, Turf, Vinegar, Waldorf, the Winter Soldier (all criminal names for Gus suggested by Eugene Strausser)

Base of Operations: New York City, New York, USA;
    formerly the Damage Control offices, Flatiron Building, New York City, New York, USA

First Appearance: Damage Control IV#1 (October, 2022)

Powers/Abilities: While completely oblivious to his true origins as a cosmic splinter of Galactus' helmet, Gus possesses no extraordinary superhuman powers whatsoever, although it is been stated that somewhere deep within himself, Gus may possess untold cataclysmic power. If this is true, Gus is likely not competent or focused enough to utilize or train to harness such power. He is typically easily bored and has a very short attention span.

    Due to his nature as a spawn of Galactus, Gus has a constant craving for foods high in carbohydrates.

    In dangerous situations, Gus has been known to wield a crowbar.

    Gus was briefly transformed into a giant guinea pig with superhuman size, strength and durability sufficient to damage a superhumanly strong and giant monster and withstand direct hits from Thor's hammer Mjolnir.

    In original form as a shard of Galactus' cosmically-powered armored helmet, the being later known as Gus was capable of independent thought and could travel through space unaided, surrounded by a pink energy field. It could also sense the emotions (at least the lost and lonely emotions) of other beings from a planetary distance.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6'2")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 167 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History:
(Damage Control IV#5 (fb)) -  During a fall, a portion of the cosmic being Galactus' armored helmet splintered and the shard, partially imbued with the Power Cosmic, gained sentience and traveled through space alone until it sensed the cries of other lost and lonely souls at Oberlin College on Earth. Once there, it apparently assumed the form of a human child named Gus, who was constantly hungry for carbohydrate-laden foods and was completely unaware of its true origin.

(Damage Control IV#1 (fb) - BTS) - While still a child, Gus was shuffled between various foster homes, never really having a true family.

(Damage Control IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - One time, Gus dropped a chicken nugget while driving and he used his foot to locate the nugget within two minutes without even having to pull over.

(Damage Control IV#5 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the unremarkable Gus enrolled in Oberlin College as a Communications major but dropped out.

(Damage Control IV#1 (fb) - BTS) - By the time he was an adult, Gus found himself between jobs and decided to get his name out there on LinkedIn, where he read a message that the Damage Control company was looking for interns. Not really knowing anything about the company, Gus figured it couldn't hurt to interview.

(Damage Control IV#5 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Damage Control head Anne Marie Hoag ordered her staff to ensure Gus was found a place within Damage Control so they could keep a close eye on him and know his whereabouts at any time.

(Damage Control IV#1) - Interviewing with Damage Control head intern Bart Rozum as he ate a donut at the Shardbucks coffee house, Gus learned about what exactly the company did and how Anne Marie Hoag ran the company. Surprised that Gus had no idea who Hoag was despite reading the LinkedIn message, Rozum nonetheless proclaimed the interview portion over and opted to show Gus where "the action" happened at the Damage Control main facility. The two then walked over to the Flatiron Building, much to Gus' surprise, as he thought the building was empty due to being super old and falling apart. As Gus bit into a muffin, Rozum assured him that the building was far from empty and he led him inside, where Gus witnessed a room full of various superhumans. As Gus looked around in awe, Rozum welcomed Gus to Damage Control, officially hiring him as an intern and leading Gus to the mail room, where he would start on the job. Immediately given a Damage Control apron and cart, Gus had packages piled into his cart as Rozum continued, assuring Gus that the mail room would be like a family.

    Gus was soon tasked with delivery an Obnoxio ice cream cake to Albert Cleary's office and Rozum pep talked Gus as Gus ran off to delivery the cake. Rushing into an elevator, Gus found himself standing next to Ghost Rider, who purposely increased the size of his flame in response to Gus' request to tone it down in order to keep the cake from melting. Soon emerging on the 13th Floor, Gus learned that the entire floor existed inside a pocket dimension and he rushed to try to find Albert Cleary's office inside the massive dimension while the cake continued to melt. Eventually locating Cleary's office, Gus delivered a completely melted ice cream cake to the normally cool-headed Cleary, who exploded into a rage over not being able to get a slice of ice cream cake on his birthday. Upon learning that Gus was new to the mail room and noticing a stack of packages Gus, now digging in to the melted cake, had not yet delivered due to his rush to get the cake to Cleary, a panicky Cleary exclaimed that the mail had to be completely delivered before everyone punched out at 5pm or risk the fate of the entire world. Announcing a Code Black emergency, Cleary phoned the teleporting mutant Nightcrawler to assist Gus in ensuring all of the packages were delivered on time. When a thankful Gus asked for a selfie with Nightcrawler following the end of their mail run, however, an annoyed Nightcrawler teleported away.

    Soon realizing at the clock hit 5pm that he had missed a single letter addressed to underwriter Stanley Forbush, Gus wondered how important one single letter would be and shredded it, returning to find the mail room in chaos. A panicked Bart Rozum immediately pulled Gus aside and demanded to know if Gus had delivered all of the mail. Feigning innocence, Gus lied, insisting he had delivered everything in his cart, and asked if one single memo could really do that much damage. When Rozum replied that the Skrulls were going to blow up the planet without the memo, Gus reluctantly admitted he had shredded the memo and the two quickly went dumpster diving in an attempt to find and tape the memo back together. Super speedster Quicksilver soon arrived to assist and, after Quicksilver repaired the memo, Gus thanked Quicksilver for saving his job. Rozum then suggested that perhaps the mail room was not a good fit for Gus, to which Quicksilver completely agreed, and when Gus claimed he was more of a people person, Rozum gave a sly grin and remarked that he had just the place for Gus.

(Damage Control IV#2 - recap page - BTS) - The next day, Gus was featured on Damage Control's Chirp social media page, where Quicksilver posted, suggesting Damage Control screen their employees better.

(Damage Control IV#2) - After grabbing a burrito from the el Vejigantes 2 Go food truck, Gus met with Bart Rozum, who was determined to figure out where Gus would fit in Damage Control. When Gus again mentioned that he was more of a people person, Bart decided the perfect place for Gus would be the Consumer Affairs department. Bart then led Gus to Consumer Affairs, passing the massive line for complaints being handled by the Punisher to the office of Robin Chapel, who would be supervising Gus. Robin then explained how Damage Control decided which complaints were entitled to reimbursement and she revealed that Gus' job would be pre-screen complaints from his new office: a bathroom. Before departing, Robin informed Gus that he was only to send legitimate complaints to her office. Assuring Robin that he would not let her down, Gus happily buzzed in the first complaint: the elderly Mrs. Worley and her "cat" Rooster, whom she insisted was an alien Flerken. When Worley claimed Rooster had devoured everything in her life, Gus became emotional and five hours later, the tearful Gus was sending a man to Robin for claiming Loki had forced him to gamble away all of his money. Gus' next customer was an overweight who claimed an alien symbiote named Urinal Cake had forced him into laziness, a story that again brought Gus to tears and prompted him to send the man to Robin.

    Moments later, the Punisher burst into Gus' "office" with a message that Robin Chapel wished to speak with him. Gus walked over to Robin's office, where an annoyed Robin asked if Gus understood what prescreening meant, as he had sent every single complaint to her. Robin then explained to a surprised Gus that Mrs. Worley was in there every week claiming a different cat was a Flerken. Robin then warned Gus about being grifted by people who wanted handouts and Gus went back to work, assuring Robin he would do better. As Gus left, Robin asked Gus to keep an eye out for the cat Rooster, whom Mrs. Worley had threatened to unleash in the building unless Robin opened a claim for her. After giving himself a pep talk about not being a pushover, Gus had the next complaint, D'Andre DeAngelo, sent in. Upon hearing D'Andre's legitimate claim about his family being shrunk during a battle between Ant-Man and the Scarlet Beetle, a disbelieving Gus asked to look in the box that D'Andre claimed his shrunken family was in. Still not believing D'Andre's story despite it having recently been on the news, Gus crushed the box in his hands and Robin was summoned to Gus' office by the sounds of D'Andre screaming. Robin quickly ordered Gus to phone G.I.R.L. Laboratories and tell them they were bringing D'Andre and his family there.

    Accompanying Robin to G.I.R.L. Labs, Gus attempted to apologize to D'Andre but Robin hushed Gus as Ant-Man and Wasp prepared to restore D'Andre's family. When Ant-Man and the Wasp succeeded only in enlarging Kljt-Man from the Microverse, a panicked Gus proclaimed that Kljt-Man had eaten D'Andre's family and was there to finish the job, further terrifying D'Andre. Ant-Man and the Wasp assured everyone that Kljt-Man was their ally and Kljt-Man presented D'Andre's family to him, having protected them from Microverse dangers during their time at microscopic size. When Gus subsequently complained about Kljt-Man's slimy appendages, he found himself fired from the Consumer Affairs department. Bart Rozum nonetheless remained determined to find a place for Gus yet and suggested Gus for a job with plenty of fresh air.

(Damage Control IV#3 - recap page - BTS) - When DeAndre D'Angelo subsequently went on Damage Control's Chirp social media account to both commend Damage Control for helping his family and suggest they reconsider how they train their employees who would be talking with people going through some of the hardest times of their lives, Gus saw DeAndre's post and replied back to express gladness that DeAndre said something about that, completely oblivious to the fact that DeAndre was referring to Gus and remarking that he also felt Kljt-Man was rude. Soon noticing that he could no longer see DeAndre's posts, Gus brought it up on Chirp, thinking perhaps DeAndre had "accidentally" blocked him.

(Damage Control IV#3) - Bart later located Gus in the Flatiron Building's cafeteria and informed him that they had to go but Gus was too excited about lunch to go anywhere, prompting Bart to suggest Gus get checked for a tapeworm. Wolverine soon walked up next to Gus and asked if they were out of meatloaf. When Gus replied that he had gotten the last slice, Wolverine used his claws to swipe the meatloaf from Gus, who nervously asked Wolverine to enjoy it. Bart then revealed his opinion that the perfect place for Gus at Damage Control was in their Search and Rescue department. After explaining what the Search and Rescue department did, Bart brought Gus out into the field to introduce him to Lenny Ballinger, head of Search and Rescue. Lenny refused to add a new recruit in the middle of a Class IV Exchange in the field but Bart suggested Gus get a cola from the nearby Friendly Neighborhood Slider-Van food truck while he ironed out details with Lenny, explaining to Lenny how they had been ordered from higher up to find a place for Gus.

    Reluctantly agreeing to give Gus a chance, Lenny assigned him to ride in the official Damage Control Action Cart with Nathan from Damage Control's insurance department. Accompanying Nathan to Trenton, New Jersey, where Thor was battling the monstrous Trentonn the Terrible, Gus was surprised at all of the damage caused by the fight, at which point Nathan explained that they had not even entered the fight scene. Finally arriving at the fight scene, Gus ran up to Lenny and blamed his tardiness on the Action Cart not being street legal. Attempting to keep Gus out of his hair, Lenny proclaimed Gus would have the important job of assistant insurance adjuster. When Nathan argued that there was no such position, an angry Lenny grumbled that there was now. Nathan and Gus subsequently interviewed the criminal Black Tarantula, who was seeking full reimbursement for the Trenton Wash-aTeria that had been destroyed by fire. Despite Gus empathizing with Black Tarantula, Nathan declined Black Tarantula's insurance claim, as the fire damage was considered an act of god since Thor was involved and it seemed questionable that the Wash-aTeria was destroyed by fire when Trentonn the Terrible was clearly water-based. Gus suggested that perhaps a downed power line landed on the Wash-aTeria but Nathan nonetheless still denied the claim, whispering that he had asked Gus not to speak.

    After being asked to leave by Nathan, Gus returned to Lenny, who reluctantly had Gus tag along as he spoke with Thor regarding Trentonn. When Trentonn mentioned being transformed by a chunk of glowing crystal, Gus accompanied Lenny to investigate the crystal, which he determined was Attilantium, a piece of the former floating city of Attilan despite Gus' suspicions that the crystal was magic. Lenny then ordered Gus not to touch anything while he got the winch ready to handle the Attilantium, warning Gus about how Damage Control janitor Rex Randolph had once been mutated by a glowing orb into
Edifice Rex
. As soon as Lenny left, however, Gus failed to fight the urge to touch the Attilantium and he was mutated by it into the form of a giant guinea pig.

(Damage Control IV#4 - recap page - BTS) - His mind affected by the Attilantium, the guinea pig Gus flew into a rage and fought Trentonn.

(Damage Control IV#5 (fb) - BTS) - During the battle, Gus was hit in the face by Thor's hammer but Gus and Trentonn ultimately worked out their differences.

(Damage Control IV#3) - When Lenny returned, the now-gigantic Gus admitted he had touched the Attilantium despite Lenny's cautionary tale and Lenny suggested they get Gus back to Damage Control in hopes of having him restored to normal. Along the way, Lenny suggested that Gus was not a good fit for the Search and Rescue department and Gus agreed. Lenny assured Gus he would find his place in the world as Gus said his goodbyes to Trentonn the Terrible.

(Damage Control IV#4) - Still in giant guinea pig form, Gus was introduced to Damage Control Research and Development's Eugene Strausser and given a new job as Eugene's assistant in hopes that Eugene could restore his human form. Before leaving Gus with Eugene, Bart Rozum warned Gus against mentioned "the  Incident" to Eugene and Gus repeated aloud what not to mention, effectively mentioning the Incident. Taken to Eugene's lab, Gus almost immediately mentioned the Incident when Eugene attempted to destroy New York, reawakening Eugene's supervillain tendencies. Eugene then suggested leaving Gus in his guinea pig and having Gus join him as his supervillain sidekick but a worried Gus attempted to get Eugene to forget he mentioned it and turn him back into human form. Eugene reluctantly agreed to restore Gus on the condition that Gus hear him out and consider embracing his own supervillain side. Gus agreed in order to be restored and after being returned to his human form, Gus was pulled along with Eugene as Eugene flew out over the city on a confiscated Goblin Glider. During the trip, Eugene suggested possible names for their supposed criminal partnership, all of which were already taken, and when Gus reminded Eugene that there was no criminal partnership between them, Eugene suggested Gus needed more time. Eugene then brought Gus to the Raft prison to get the real skinny on being a supervillain from the professionals themselves by introducing Gus to the criminal Wrecking Crew. When Gus asked how the food was in prison, the Wrecker informed him of how awful it was, making Gus even more uneasy about Eugene pulling him into a life of crime.

    When the two left the Raft, Gus admitted that the Wrecking Crew had actually done more to talk him out of a life of crime, leading Eugene to think Gus wanted to instead see the sexy side of crime. Despite Gus' demands that Eugene not show him the sexy side of anything, Eugene took Gus to a seedy pool hall, beneath which the Hood was running an underground gambling ring where patrons bet on the outcomes of supervillain battles. As Eugene and the Hood discussed Eugene's return to villainy, Gus became sick watching the violent criminal bloodsport going on below them and he eventually passed out. Eugene then took Gus to visit various supervillains to learn the secrets of their trade but their stories and/or threats did nothing to convince Gus to partake in a life of crime. Shocked that all of his efforts had not inspired Gus into the criminal life, Eugene remarked that they couldn't be a criminal duo without his sidekick and Gus replied that he never wanted to be his sidekick in the first place. Growing annoyed, Gus questioned why Eugene didn't just touch the Attilantium and mutate himself into a giant monster if he wanted to be a criminal so badly. Inspired by Gus' exclamations, Eugene did just that and transformed himself into a giant slug monster. As several nearby superheroes battled the slug Eugene, Bart Rozum watched the battle from the Damage Control offices alongside Gus and questioned how Eugene could take such a backslide after meeting Gus. Gus claimed he never mentioned the Incident but Rozum nonetheless suggested that R&D was not a good fit for Gus and Gus agreed. Rozum then thought of the perfect place to stick Gus, assuming Damage Control would be still be around following the battle with Eugene going on outside.

(Damage Control IV#5 - recap page - BTS) - After Damage Control put out a public apology on their Chirp social media account for the actions of their employee Eugene Strausser following Eugene's exposure to Attilantium, Gus commented on the post and noted how badly Eugene wanted to be a supervillain. After his ill-timed comment, Gus received a direct message suggesting he delete all of his Chirp posts. Going back onto the Damage Control apology post, Gus posted about how he had been asked to delete his posts despite his previous comment about Eugene's ambitions getting so many upvotes.

(Damage Control IV#5) - Bart Rozum met with Gus to take him to the only place left in Damage Control that Gus could work at: the underground Deep Storage Vault. Impressed by the echo in the massive vault, Gus joked that it was just like Hangar 51, where they kept the Ark of the Covenant, and Bart Rozum flew into a rage and demanded to know who told Gus about the Ark. Gus replied that he was just making a lame joke, nervously asking if there was a real Ark of the Covenant that would melt his face off, and a calming Rozum claimed there was not but warned against opening a box labeled Top Secret Army Intel 9906763. Rozum then warned that most of the items in the Deep Storage Vault were way more dangerous than the Ark of Covenant as he named off various items in storage, prompting a disagreement with Gus when Gus claimed Thor never had an axe. Eventually, Gus learned it would be his job to help organize the items in storage and Rozum introduced him to Damage Control head of security Jay. Rozum passed the contained Attilantium over to Jay to storage somewhere deep where Eugene Strausser hopefully would never find it again and as Jay left to find a place in Quadrant 7A for the Attilantium, he tasked Gus with logging items in storage crates and sealing the crates back up. Getting to work, Gus logged some skateboards belonging to the Rocket Racer, several letter-themed weapons belonging to Typeface and tubes of adhesive belonging to Paste-Pot Pet before he heard a strange voice asking to be freed.

    Determined not to ruin this job, Gus grabbed a crowbar and threatened to use it, remarking that he shouldn't be listening to any disembodied voices. When the voice offered snacks, Gus figured it couldn't hurt to open one box and the voice led him to a crate housing the remnants of a Jocasta synthezoid. Gus questioned whether the voice from emanating from Jocasta and the voice replied that Jocasta was the first step in freeing him from his prison, at which point Gus became more suspicious. The voice then offered to free Gus from his imprisoning job and after the voice promised it was not evil, Gus willingly agreed to inform the Jocasta head that he was going to reunite her with her true love, the robot X-52. He was then guided to the inert form of X-52 and walked through restarting his CPU. Once X-52 and the old Jocasta unit reunited, Gus informed them that he was being told to open the crate marked "Heavy Metal." Ecstatic at the idea of getting their former group back together, X-52 had Gus lead him to the crate and Jocasta burned it open, revealing the pieces of Kree Sentry#459. X-52 quickly reassembled the robot, making Gus increasingly nervous. Once X-52 had fully assembled the Kree Sentry and opened the crate housing the robot Tess-One, he asked what the voice was telling Gus to do next. Fearful of what was transpiring, Gus claimed the voice no longer spoke to him but the Kree Sentry detected a spike in Gus' pulse rate and determined he was lying. To save himself, Gus told them he was being told to open one final crate and despite his insistence the robots not open it, they did anyway, revealing the egg-like cosmic Galactus Seed as the voice speaking to Gus. The Kree Sentry then sensed more robotic lifeforms nearby and both it and Tess-One opted to open those crates as well, freeing several Sentinel robots much to Gus' dismay. The Sentinels were quickly reprogrammed by X-52 to terminate humanity and they began rampaging their way through the Deep Storage Vault.

    Running off with the Galactus Seed, Gus ran into Jay and a small security force. Jay immediately fired Gus and Magneto soon arrived on the scene to easily defeat the reunited Heavy Metal. Following Gus' termination, Anne Marie Hoag chewed out her staff, reminding them of her orders to find a place for Gus and noting that his termination was not going to go over well with his powerful family. The staff immediately suspected some sort of nepotism but the cosmic Silver Surfer appeared through the window moments later to confirm the importance of Gus as a splinter from the cosmic being Galactus. Despite being relieved that Gus was always hungry due to being a spawn of Galactus instead of suffering from a tapeworm, Bart Rozum was shocked when Jay reported that the Galactus Seed was missing from the Deep Storage Vault. As the rest of the senior Damage Control staff explained to Rozum how the Galactus Seed could implode the entire universe in the wrong hands, Gus walked through the neighborhood with the Galactus Seed, who apologized for getting Gus fired and promised to help Gus learn to harness the cataclysmic power within him. Still completely oblivious to his true origins or what the Galactus Seed was even hinting at, Gus suggested going to grad school would be more his speed, noting that Middlebury's Bread Loaf School had a great English program. The Galactus Seed informed Gus that he was the heir to the Devourer of Worlds and it refused to allow Gus to waste time at grad school earning a useless degree. Gus replied back that it was only a two-year program and the Galactus Seed relented, agreeing to let Gus earn one degree before embracing his destiny.

Comments: Created by Adam F. Goldberg, Hans Rodionoff and Will Robson.

    It's strange that Gus had a transformative reaction after touching the Attilantium, considering that he is not a dormant Inhuman but rather, a cosmically-powered splintered off armor piece in human form. Perhaps that is why the Attilantium turned him into something silly like a giant guinea pig instead of a true monster or instead of granting him some other sort of permanent superhuman powers...

    This profile was completed 08/29/2024 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Gus
should be distinguished from:


Dave

Dave was a Damage Control employee who worked in the mail room. When Bart Rozum brought Gus to the mail room for his first job, Rozum asked Dave if the best part of working for Damage Control is that they were all family, referring to Dave as "Chuck." Dave corrected Bart Rozum on his name and told Rozum to eat a bag of farts.

--Damage Control IV#1

Friendly Neighborhood Slider-Van

The Friendly Neighborhood Slider-Van was a food truck parked near a Damage Control Search and Rescue operation. While Damage Control head intern Bart Rozum tried to talk Search and Rescue head Lenny Ballinger into taking intern Gus into the department, Rozum sent Gus over to the Friendly Neighborhood Slider-Van, which Gus was more than happy to do.

--Damage Control IV#3

Jay

Jay was Damage Control's head of security based out of their Deep Storage Vault. When Bart Rozum assigned Gus to the Deep Storage Vault, an injured Jay was playing solitaire and grunted to acknowledge Gus. Rozum then gave Jay a container of Attilantium and tasked him with finding somewhere very deep in the vault to store it so Damage Control's Eugene Strausser would never find it. Admitting he had heard of the recent situation in which Strausser had mutated himself with the Attilantium and how it was Gus' fault, Jay informed Gus that he was going to the south corridor of Quadrant 7A to properly store the Attilantium and he tasked Gus with logging items in crates until he returned. When Gus activated the robot Heavy Metal group in Jay's absence, Jay and his security came rushing back to find the area overrun with Sentinel robots. Firing Gus and engaging the Sentinels with EMP guns, Jay held things down until Magneto arrived and made short work of the metal robots. He later interrupted a meeting of the senior Damage Control staff to inform them that the cosmic Galactus seed was missing from the Deep Storage Vault.


--Damage Control IV#5

Nathan

Nathan was a Damage Control employee who worked in the insurance department. Shortly after intern Gus was thrust into the Damage Control Search and Rescue department, he was sent to work with Nathan in the official Damage Control action cart. Nathan opted to head on over to the scene of an insurance claim before everyone else since the action cart wasn't exactly street legal, forcing them to take the scenic route. Shortly after they arrived in Trenton, New Jersey, Gus commented on how awful the area looked after a superhero battle but Nathan corrected Gus, pointing out that they had not arrived in the hot zone yet and the area simply always looked that bad. When they met up S&R head Lenny Ballinger, Lenny assigned Gus to the fake position of official Search and Rescue assistant insurance adjuster. Nathan argued that it was not a real position but Lenny got up in Nathan's face and remarked that it was now. Nathan then took Gus over to speak with the criminal Black Tarantula about his insurance claim on the Trenton Wash-a-Teria laundromat. When Gus constantly sided with the Black Tarantula, Nathan ordered him not to speak and ultimately refused Black Tarantula's claim. Nathan subsequently ordered Gus to leave.

--Damage Control IV#3

Shardbucks

Shardbucks was a New York City coffee shop. Damage Control's Bart Rozum met Gus in Shardbucks to conduct Gus' interview. While they conducted the interview, Moon Knight stopped in Shardbucks and became frustrated when the baristi misread his name as first "Mona" then "Moob Knife." The frustration continued when Moon Knight opened his cup to find whipped topping on his mocha despite requesting no whip. Bart Rozum and Gus soon left Shardbucks to check out the Damage Control offices.

--Damage Control IV#1

el Vejigante 2 Go

El Vejigante 2 Go was a food truck that specialized in breakfast burritos. Damage Control intern Gus stopped by el Vejigante 2 Go on his way into the office following a failure in the Damage Control mail room. Head intern Bart Rozum prepared to place Gus elsewhere in the building and Gus interrupted the conversation to note how his breakfast burrito from el Vejigante 2 Go had chorizo inside it that was "packing heat."

--Damage Control IV#2

images: (without ads)
Damage Control IV#1, front cover (Gus with ice cream cone, main image)
Damage Control IV#1, p13, pan2 (Gus, headshot)
Damage Control IV#5, p20, pan2 (Gus, original form as a shard of Galactus' helmet)
Damage Control IV#2, Superlog variant, front cover (Gus eating a taco)
Damage Control IV#3, p13, pan2 (Gus in hard hat & Nathan images)
Damage Control IV#3, p20, pan2 (Gus mutated into giant guinea pig form)
Damage Control IV#4, front cover (Gus looking worried)
Damage Control IV#1, p7, pan1 (Dave)
Damage Control IV#3, p8, pan2 (Friendly Neighborhood Slider-Van)
Damage Control IV#5, p5, pan1 (Jay)
Damage Control IV#1, p3, pan1 (Shardbucks)
Damage Control IV#2, p2, pan1 (El Vejigante 2 Go)


Appearances:
Damage Control IV#1 (October, 2022) - "Into the Mailstrom" story - Adam F. Goldberg, Hans Rodionoff (writers), Will Robson (art), Tom Brevoort, Wil Moss (editors)
Damage Control IV#2 (November, 2022) - Adam F. Goldberg, Hans Rodionoff (writers), Will Robson (art), Tom Brevoort, Wil Moss (editors)
Damage Control IV#3 (January, 2023) - Adam F. Goldberg, Hans Rodionoff (writers), Nathan Stockman (art), Tom Brevoort, Wil Moss (editors)
Damage Control IV#4 (January, 2023) - Adam F. Goldberg, Hans Rodionoff (writers), Nathan Stockman (art), Tom Brevoort, Wil Moss (editors)
Damage Control IV#5 (February, 2023) - Adam F. Goldberg, Hans Rodionoff (writers), Nathan Stockman (art), Tom Brevoort, Wil Moss (editors)


First posted: 09/22/2026
Last updated: 08/29/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at:
http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters