Users/Possessors: Royalist Forces of America

First Appearance: Captain America I#193 (January, 1976)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Madbomb is a sonic device which causes people to go insane when affected by it, making them run wild and attack each other. A Madbomb the size of a fingernail--"Peanut"--can affect people in the same room; a Madbomb the size of a grenade--"Dumpling"--can affect an entire neighborhood; the largest Madbomb, "Big Daddy," could have potentially affected all of the United States.

History: (Captain America I#199 (fb) - BTS) - After being fired from his job at Dynamic Electronics, scientist Mason Harding fell in with the Royalist Forces of America, and was convinced to design the Madbomb for them because he needed the money.

(Captain America I#193) - A Madbomb which was the size of a grenade was set off in Harlem, causing chaos throughout the neighborhood. Captain America managed to find it and smash it with his shield, returning everyone to normal. He and the Falcon then attended a briefing with S.H.I.E.L.D. where they were alerted to the threat of "Big Daddy."

(Captain America I#198 - BTS) - Captain America, the Falcon and S.H.I.E.L.D. found the site where "Big Daddy" had been built, but it had already been moved to another location.

(Captain America I#199) - Mason Harding turned against the Royalist Forces, and used a miniature Madbomb to make the men guarding him shoot at each other. He then went to Captain America and the Falcon, offering them the means to be immune to the Madbomb's effects, and to help them stop "Big Daddy." Meanwhile, William Taurey gave word for "Big Daddy" to be activated.

(Captain America I#200) - The Falcon journeyed to Taurey Towers, where "Big Daddy" was concealed within the top of the building. It had already been activated by the time he fought his way inside, but he pulled the device's lever to "maximum" level, causing it to explode.

(Captain America I#224 (fb)) - The dismantled parts of "Big Daddy" were transported away by the military. La Tarantula and Senor Suerte made an attempt at stealing the parts to sell on the black market, but were opposed by Captain America. They managed to poison him with la Tarantula's venom.

(Captain America I#224) - After he had recovered, Captain America tracked down la Tarantula and Senor Suerte, and defeated them, returning the parts of "Big Daddy" to the military.

(The Last Defenders#2-3) - The Sons of the Serpent enlisted Cheer Chadwick to their cause and had a new Madbomb constructed. The Serpents planned to use the Madbomb to create a race war with which to divide the populace of the USA, then have a new ruling elite step up from the Serpents to guide the country to new "greatness." However, Nighthawk, She-Hulk and Joaquin Pennysworth discovered the plot and Pennysworth set off explosives which destroyed the facility and Madbomb.

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia.

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Madbomb should not be confused with:

• Mad Bomber, the Ghost, @ Iron Man III#42

Images taken from:
Captain America I#200, page 26, panel 7-9
Captain America I#193, page 10, panel 7
Captain America I#199, page 14, panel 4

Captain America I#193 (January, 1976) - Jack Kirby (writer/penciler/editor), Frank Giacoia (inker)
Captain America I#198-200 (June-August, 1976) - Jack Kirby (writer/penciler/editor), Frank Giacoia (inker), Marv Wolfman (consulting editor)
Captain America I#224 (August, 1978) - Peter B. Gillis (writer), Mike Zeck (artist), Mike Esposito, John Tartag (inkers), Roger Stern (editor)
The Last Defenders#2-3 (June-July, 2008) - Joe Casey, Keith Giffen (writers), Jim Muniz (penciler), Cam Smith (inker), Steve Wacker (editor)

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