CARLTON BEATRICE

Real Name: Carlton Beatrice

Identity/Class: Human magic-user

Occupation: Owner and CEO of Carlton Industries

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Anung-Ite, Michel "Mickey" Souris

Enemies: Roberta Elk Step, the Keewazi tribe, Miriam, She-Hulk (Jen Walters), William Wingfoot, Wyatt Wingfoot

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Carlton Industries, Manhattan, New York, United States of America

First Appearance: She-Hulk: Ceremony#1 (1989)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Powers/Abilities: Carlton Beatrice possessed several skills mystical in nature but limited to his use in totems and his habit of consuming souls. Within his power was the ability to take the souls of animals and human beings, manifest them as wafers or crackers and then consume them for their astral energies. He could conjure weapons of mystical force, appear on the astral and dream planes and teleport living beings into those realms. He could mentally enslave anyone whose soul he had removed as well as control and command Anung-Ite, a being from the cosmology of the Native American gods. Powered by a mystical object such as a sacred Keewazi basket of Roberta Elk Step could enable him to spread his power and influence across the planet.

    He wore a mask of unrevealed nature, significance, etc. during his ritual to marry the soul of the Earth.

 

 

 

 

 

History: (She-Hulk: Ceremony#1 (fb)) - Carlton Beatrice was once a young opportunistic businessman who tried to purchase certain mineral rights of the land from the Keewazi Indian Reservation in Oklahoma. Unable to budge William Wingfoot (see comments) into the sale, he just happened to glance upon Wingfoot's mother or mother-in-law, Roberta Elk Step, and her daughter ( or niece-by-marriage, or possibly even her sister --see comments), Miriam, in a religious and mystical ceremony. Beatrice studied the mystic arts under Roberta and Miriam to perfect and practice them as well as they could and even applied another obscure mystical art of stealing souls in his mastery of mysticism. Totally lacking in beneficent energy, that which Miriam called "female energies," he clashed with Miriam and killed her for her psychic energies. Fleeing the reservation to avoid Roberta's wrath, Beatrice headed to Manhattan, New York , where he used what power he had in the mystic arts to build his own company. He collected a series of mystic totems to increase his power.

(She-Hulk: Ceremony#1) <20 years after Beatrice had first come to the Keewazi reservation> - Beatrice soon learned he needed a mystical basket that the Keewazi possessed to expand his power, but Roberta had sent it as a gift to her son Wyatt's then former girlfriend, Jennifer Walters, the She Hulk. Realizing the basket would only be useful if it was given to him (rather than being taken by force), Beatrice immediately located She-Hulk (just after she had received the basket) and attempted to convince her to give it to him in exchange for his donating a large sum of money to her favorite charity. Appreciating the gift and suspecting its greater significance, She-Hulk refused to give Beatrice the basket.

    Failing to understand that the basket could only be given to Beatrice, Beatrice's apprentice and vice-president, Michel Souris, sent an Indian Anung-Ite spirit to take the basket; nonetheless, She-Hulk thwarted the Anung-Ite's efforts. As punishment, Beatrice removed Souris' soul, trapping it in wafer form.

 

(She-Hulk: Ceremony#2) - Beatrice eventually ransomed Wyatt's soul for possession of the basket in order to possess it. Beatrice then had his people arrange for the United States Department of the Interior to rescind the treaty that created the Keewazi reservation, thus forcing the tribe to relocate. Carlton Industries then "legally" acquired the land and the minerals on it.

    Beatrice used the basket's power to started stealing power from all the souls on Earth. Jennifer and Wyatt attacked in on the astral plane by merging their psychic energies as one and breaking Carlton's hold on his power. With the basket's energy redirected through them, they were able to restore the souls Beatrice had stolen his power on them. His body destroyed in the process, his soul took the form of a harmless black butterfly (as opposed to the other souls, which took the form of brightly colored butterflies) as it departed.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments: Created by Dwayne McDuffie, Robin D. Chaplik and June Brigman.

    Interesting villain, Carlton Beatrice seems to be part J.R. Ewing and part Doctor Doom. One would have to wonder he was such a nasty character because he was terrorized in school for having a girl's name.

    The concept of souls as butterflies has occurred more than once in the Marvel Universe. The cosmic Akhenaton when he was destroyed by Thanos became one and Satana Hellstrom swallowed them after drawing them from her victims.

    Although Carlton Beatrice has a certain control over mystical energies, he does not seem to be a true sorcerer in the sense of Doctor Strange or Jennifer Kale. In fact, the entry for Doctor Druid in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe#3 remarks that because Druid does not manipulate ambient and extradimensional magical energy, that Druid cannot be counted as a sorcerer, his use of ritualistic Celtic Earth magic qualifies him as a mystic. Likewise, since Beatrice seems to manipulate Native American mystical energies without earning the right or discipline to do so, he can only be called a mystic rather than a true sorcerer.
--I'd say that's an arbitrary division with no real purpose. Beatrice is a magic-user, at least.--Snood

    In fact, considering the threat that Beatrice poses, one would have to wonder why Dr. Strange wouldn't get involved in challenging him.

    Possibly, Carlton Beatrice's company has location offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma near the Keewazi Indian Reservation.

    The name of Wyatt Wingfoot's father is not mentioned in the issue, just his role in defying Beatrice. His name comes from Fantastic Four I#51, Wyatt's second appearance. --Prime Eternal

    This entry was initially going to cover Mickey Souris in a smaller entry, but given his connection to Damage Control, he got his own profile.

Comments from Donald Campbell (I edited the profile to reflect most of these, but the reasons are discussed herein--Snood)

  1. As far as I know, Will Wingfoot has never been described as being chief of the Keewazi tribe. Will's father, Silent Fox, was chief when the FF first met Wyatt and, judging by Fantastic Four I#269, Will would have become chief only after his father died. Unfortunately, since Will predeceased his father, he never had the opportunity to be chief. Of course, if Will was never the chief, then why was he the one who refused to sell to Beatrice? My best guess would be that Silent Fox was preparing his son to succeed him by delegating some of his duties to Will, like dealing with outside businessmen. Alternatively, it's possible that Silent Fox retired and was succeeded by Will but that Will later died and so Silent Fox became chief again (since Wyatt was too young).

  2. Roberta is Wyatt's grandmother, not his mother. Therefore, Roberta was either William's mother or his mother-in-law.

  3. The profile refers to Miriam as being Roberta's sister. This may be incorrect since Roberta, when speaking to her grandson, mentions his "Aunt Miriam." This would seem to indicate that Miriam was of a younger generation than Roberta and thus was either her daughter or her niece-by-marriage. However, if Miriam was Roberta's sister, then that would make her Wyatt's great-aunt and Roberta may have just chosen to use the more general term of "aunt" instead of the more specific "great-aunt."
    For what it's worth, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update#1 (2010) noted Miriam as Wyatt's aunt. That does not directly contradict the above discussion; that entry also notes a Roberta as Wyatt's mother (in addition to Roberta Elk Step being his grandmother)

  4. The profile does not mention that Beatrice's encounters with She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot took place "twenty years" after he first came to the Keewazi reservation. Personally, I think this is information that should be included since Beatrice spent those years collecting various totems before he ever tried to get the basket.

  5. Roberta Elk Step was the person who taught Beatrice much of what he knows about her tribe's medicine (magic). Miriam seems to have also helped teach him.

  6. After killing Miriam, Beatrice fled to the White Man's world because he feared Roberta's vengeance.

  7. Beatrice did not have Souris send the Anung-ite to take the basket from She-Hulk because he already knew that it would only retain its power if it was given and not sold or taken.

  8. Beatrice did not use the basket's power to force the Keewazi tribe to sell their land to him. Instead, he had his people arrange for the United States Department of the Interior to rescind the treaty that created the Keewazi reservation, thus forcing the tribe to relocate. Carlton Industries then "legally" acquired the land and the minerals on it.

  9. After being defeated, Beatrice's soul took the form of a harmless BLACK butterfly. The color may be significant since all other soul-butterflies were shown to be brightly-colored.

by Will U; partially expanded by Snood, based on research following Donald Campbell's corrections.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Carlton Beatrice should not be confused with:


Images taken from:
Main - SH: C 1, pg. 38, bottom right
Face - SH: C 2, pg. 6, bottom left
Powers - SH: C 2, pg. 35, full page
She Hulk: Ceremony#2, introductory page (ceremonial mask)
        story page. 39, panel 4 (black soul butterfly)


Appearances:
She Hulk: Ceremony#1-2 (1989) - Dwayne McDuffie &, Robin D. Chaplik (writers), June Brigman (pencils), Stan Drake (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)

Last updated: 06/26/14

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