WASTREL

Real Name: Dr. Walter S. Lawson

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Terrorist, inventor; former university professor

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: General Bridges, Mandroid (Manuel), the Organization, a Sentry, Supremor

Enemies: Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Hazmat (Jennifer Takeda), Kree Empire, Lauri-Ell, Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Starforce Blue (Accuser/Inndig-O, Protector/Yond-R, Pursuer/Cadmi-M, Shatterax/Seruly-N, Ultimus/Major-L), War Machine (James Rhodes)

Known Relatives: Cyberex (creation)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The city of K'in-Al on the planet Mar-Da'en, Kree Empire;
   formerly the stranded Kree spaceship Helion, Earth;
   formerly his laboratory

First Appearance: (As Lawson) Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 (March, 1968); (as Wastrel) Marvel Team-Up IV#4 (September, 2019)

Powers/Abilities: Lawson was a genius, an expert in missile guiding systems, robotics and explosives. He knew how to pilot an airplane.

   After acquiring a Kree Uni-Band he gained the ability to find more Kree technology, which he could then repair and even reprogram as needed. He utilized Kree robots, including a Mandroid, a Sentry and Supremor, the tech aboard a damaged spaceship and more. The Uni-Band also served as a cloaking device to hide from any kind of detection behind a so-called "aura of negativity."

History:
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Walter Lawson was a scientist and a genius. He was an university professor. He was considered secluded and eccentric.

(Captain Marvel I#8 (fb) - BTS) - Lawson was contacted by the Organization, an international criminal consortium. The Organization financed Lawson to build its perfect agent with 12 million dollars. Lawson decided to build Cyberex, a robot-killer. With the money he built a vast research hi-tech laboratory under the mountain near his home and also built a rich villa above the lab.

(Captain Marvel I#10 (fb) - BTS) - Lawson built the Eon Ray for the Organization.

(Captain Marvel I#8 (fb) - BTS) - Lawson built a robot and called it Cyberex. To test it, he programmed the robot-killer to search and to kill him.

(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 (fb) - BTS) - Lawson was called by General Bridges to the Missile Base "Cape" for his knowledge both in missiles and robotics. The base needed an improved model of space gyroscope. Lawson accepted the work and took a small airplane to fly to the "Cape".

(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13) - Lawson was piloting the airplane and was near the base when he spotted Captain Mar-Vell flying toward him. His airplane was struck by a laser-ray shot by a Yon-Rogg's Kree spaceship. The laser-ray was directed at Mar-Vell but was intercepted by the airplane that exploded and fell to the ground. Lawson was found dead by Captain Marvel.

    Captain Marvel took Lawson's identity to infiltrate in the Missile Base.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#5 (fb) - BTS) - Lawson somehow got his hands on a Kree Uni-Band and survived the crash. He later claimed that he was lured to the spot where he plane was shot down by the Kree and that Mar-Vell had only pulled his body out of the wreck to steal his I.D. to infiltrate the missile base, which worked perfectly for Mar-Vell because he looked like Lawson, which Lawson didn't believe to be a coincidence. Lawson was so afraid that he had become the victim of a Kree conspiracy that he was sure they would kill him if they found out he was still alive. He went underground, but kept tabs on Carol Danvers.

(Captain Marvel I#3 - BTS) - The Super-Skrull impersonated Lawson taking Mar-Vell's shape.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#5 (fb) - BTS) - Over the years Lawson acquired a large amount of Kree technology.

   At some point (presumably after Operation: Galactic Storm) Lawson found the Helion, the ship that had shot him out of the sky years earlier, after it crashed somewhere in the Smoky Mountains. It took him days to haul out all the dead Kree soldiers. He repaired the ship as much as he could, but couldn't make it space-worthy.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#4 (fb) - BTS) - Over the course of months Lawson, calling himself Wastrel, broke into five Damage Control warehouses, stealing Kree technology from each of them including armor pieces, busted scanning equipment and broken-down weapons.

   One night Wastrel and the Mandroid he called Manuel broke into Damage Control WH-6 in Jersey City.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#4) - Wastrel admonished Manuel for knocking out Paul, a security guard at the warehouse. He then picked up Paul's mobile phone from the ground to tell his scared wife that Paul was fine before asking her if she knew where Kree technology was kept at the warehouse.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#4 - BTS) - Wastrel stole the weapon used to kill Carol Danvers' mother Marie-Ell, but it had been dusted with nanites by Damage Control after the last few thefts of Kree technology. Wastrel deactivated his negative aura field to allow Captain Marvel (Danvers) and Ms. Marvel (Khan) to track down the weapon to Starblaster's Laser Tag where they were attacked by Manuel and Supremor, who were not allowed by Wastrel to use lethal force.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#4) - Wastrel showed up on the scene when Manuel asked him for permission to use lethal force and when he took off his helmet Danvers first believed him to be Mar-Vell.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#5) - Danvers quickly realized her mistake and recognized Wastrel as Walter Lawson, who went on a tantrum explaining how he had not died, but was merely replaced by Mar-Vell as part of a Kree infiltration plot. Danvers pointed out that Mar-Vell was a good man, but Wastrel didn't believe her because he was Kree. He showed her how he had survived due to a Kree Uni-Band and revealed how it was this technology that enabled him to repair, improve and gain control over other Kree technology. He planned to get his revenge on the Kree, but didn't know that Danvers was half Kree herself as Ms. Marvel accidentally revealed. When Carol admitted it, Wastrel released a smoke cloud from the Uni-Band against Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel and fled.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#5 - BTS) - Wastrel returned to the Helion in the Smoky Mountains and activated the Helion's distress beacon. Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel tracked him down with the help of Shuri.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#5) - Wastrel welcomed Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel to the Helion and revealed that he had deactivated the negativity aura to allow the Helion's distress beacon to call the Kree to Earth. Wastrel was sure that they would send a rescue team, but when he revealed that the ship coming to Earth had the Starforce on it, Captain Marvel told him that they were a hit squad.

(Marvel Team-Up IV#6) - Captain Marvel was sure the Starforce were coming to kill Wastrel, but he wasn't afraid because he had a Kree Sentry to kill them instead. Captain Marvel had to disappoint Wastrel because she and Ms. Marvel had already destroyed the Sentry on their way to the Helios. Wastrel picked up one of his many weapons instead and Captain Marvel helped Wastrel. To the surprise of both of them the Accuser (Indig-O) of Starforce Blue knocked on the door of the Helios and was allowed to enter the ship by Wastrel. She was secretly followed by her camouflaged allies Shatterax, Pursuer and Protector. Indig-O interrogated Wastrel about his theft of Kree technology and if he had used an Omni-Wave Projector. Wastrel admitted it and Indig-O had her team drop their camouflage. Wastrel was further interrogated by the other members of Starforce Blue and eventually confessed his guilt. Major-L arrived to judge Wastrel, who was not ready to go down yet and sent Manuel and Supremor against Starforce Blue. Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel protected Wastrel from Starforce Blue after his robots were taken down. Wastrel then tried to activate a modified Psyche-Magnitron to strip all Kree of their powers. Captain Marvel distracted Wastrel long enough for Ms. Marvel to destroy the Psyche-Magnitron. Wastrel was then arrested and sentenced to ten years of community service in the Kree Empire. Wastrel accepted the sentence and left Earth peacefully with Starforce Blue, but gave Captain Marvel a wink before he left.

(Captain Marvel XII#20 (fb) - BTS) - Wastrel was taken to the center of the Kree Empire and planned to destroy the empire from within. He took advantage of the war against the Cotati and ended up on the planet Mar-Da'en where he collected plenty of Kree technology in the sanctuary city of K'in-Al.

(Captain Marvel XII#18 (fb) - BTS/20 (fb)) - Wastrel blew up the sanctuary city of K'in-Al.

(Captain Marvel XII#18 (fb) - BTS) - The only survivor, Lauri-Ell, was blamed for it. Emperor Hulkling of the Kree/Skrull Empire sent Captain Marvel to capture Lauri-Ell, but when Captain Marvel learned that she was her sister, she took her to Earth to protect her and find the true culprit.

(Captain Marvel XII#19) - Captain Marvel returned to K'in-Al and encountered Walter, who claimed he was there as part of his community service. She didn't notice him holding a lab coat and believed his claims that he was friendly with the Kree now. Captain Marvel took off to continue her investigation on the city's destruction.

   Captain Marvel returned to the place where she had seen him earlier, but Walter was gone. She became suspicious and remembered the lab coat he was holding. When none of the Kree even recognized Walter's name, Captain Marvel felt certain that she had something to do with the city's destruction.

(Captain Marvel XII#20) - Captain Marvel took Hazmat, Spider-Woman and War Machine, all empowered with part of her Accuser powers, to the planet Mar-Da'en to capture Wastrel. They were attacked by a Sentry, a Mandroid and a Supremor. Eventually Wastrel rose from the ground piloting a tentacled, laser-firing vehicle. Captain Marvel blamed Wastrel for the destruction of the city and for framing her sister, but Wastrel pointed out that Lauri-Ell was only blamed because she was the only survivor. Wastrel admitted to still hate the Kree and that he was exactly where he wanted to be. Captain Marvel and her team took down Wastrel's vehicle and Captain Marvel used her Accuser powers to see how Wastrel had destroyed the city. They arrested Wastrel for the death of hundreds of thousands citizen in the name of the Kree Empire.

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, Gene Colan and Paul Reinman.

I have no clue what the S. stands for, but it was first used in Marvel Team-Up IV#5.
--Markus Raymond

Profile by Spidermay. Update by Markus Raymond (Marvel Team-Up, Captain Marvel).

Clarifications:

Dr. Walter Lawson has a strong connection to:

has no known connections to


Images:
Marvel Team-Up IV#4, p18 (main)
Marvel Team-Up IV#5, p3, pan5 (head shot, now)
Marvel Super-Heroes II#13, p9, pan4 (head shot, "dead")
Marvel Team-Up IV#6, p8, pan1 (in Kree uniform)
Captain Marvel XII#20, p14, pan3 (in tank)


Appearances:
Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 (March, 1968) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Paul Reinman (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Captain Marvel I#8 (December, 1968) - Arnold Drake (writer), Don Heck (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Captain Marvel I#10 (February, 1969) - Arnold Drake (writer), Don Heck (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Marvel Team-Up IV#4-6 (September-November, 2019) - Clint McElroy (writer), Ig Guara (artist), Alanna Smith (editor)
Captain Marvel XII#19-20 (October, 2020) - Kelly Thompson (writer), Cory Smith (pencils), Adriano Di Benedetto (inks), Sarah Brunstad (editor)


First Posted: 03/14/2021
Last updated: 12/13/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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