THE MARVEL
Real Name: Mark Holly
Identity/Class: Human mutant;
UK
citizen
Occupation: Juvenile delinquent
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Ms. Ash, unidentified grandfather
Enemies: The Aesthete, Ena Braun, Crouch, the Dead
Known Relatives: Hazel Holly (mother), "Honest" Sid Holly (father), Lynette Holly (sister), unidentified grandfather (deceased), unidentified great great grandfather (the Marvel, presumed deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: London, U.K.
First Appearance: The Marvel (alternate title: The Rat - never published)
Powers/Abilities: The Marvel appears to have superhuman strength, and can either leap great distances or fly. He apparently can project energy, since he unintentionally starts a house fire.
Height: (as Mark) unrevealed; (as the Marvel) 6'
plus
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed
History:
(The Marvel#1 proposal) - Nearly thirteen, Mark Holly of London's
Clapham Junction was developing into a nasty piece of work, hating his
parents, school, authority of any kind, Britain in general and his
sister, though he lusted after her friends. After chucking in his tenth
part-time job of the year he picked a fight with a couple of vagrants,
who proved to be more than he could handle until the beating he was
receiving triggered previously unknown powers, transforming him into a
muscular, six-foot plus twenty-five year old superhuman. In the ensuing
melee two police became involved, a man and woman, and the man was
inadvertently killed, a tragedy the female cop, Ena Braun, blamed on the
superhuman. Still in his superhuman form, Mark fled home and locked
himself in his bedroom while trying to come to terms with everything
that had happened. Unable to control his powers, he accidentally set
fire to his house, and his superhuman self was spotted leaping away from
the blaze. In a mad panic he managed to transform back to his teenage
self, though he was unsure how. Fleeing to his only friend, his
grandfather, Mark confided his predicament, gaining superpowers only to
be blamed for killing a cop. However, Mark discovered that his
grandfather had died from a heart attack while he was recounting his
tale.
Soon afterwards, Mark learned that his
grandfather had left him only one thing in his will, an old Victorian
antique of little apparent value. Angrily hitting it, he unintentionally
shattered it, and discovered a notebook hidden in a secret drawer. This
proved to be his great-great grandfather's journal, explaining how he
had transformed himself into a superhuman, the Marvel, back in Victorian
times, and Mark realized he had inherited his ancestor's genes. Mark
found that whenever he transformed into "the Marvel," his good side was
pulled up from the murky depths of his nature, much to Mark's disgust,
and Mark was constantly torn between his good and bad sides, a problem
worsened by powers that constantly shifted and changed before he could
get a handle on them. As the Marvel he was wanted for murder and arson,
a fugitive from the law, particularly Ena Braun, while also battling
villains such as the Aesthete, Crouch and the Dead. Things only got
worse, and ultimately Mark was sent to a remand home for juvenile
delinquents.
Comments: Created by Tim Quinn.
One of Marvel UK's lost projects,
commissioned and then cancelled before it could come out. Art Wetherell
was set to draw the story, but hadn't started when Marvel UK imploded
and the title was cancelled. It had been planned to be a 12 issue
miniseries titled either The Marvel or The Rat.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Marvel has no known connections to:
Mark's mother Hazel was a New Age witch; his father "Honest" Sid was crooked second-hand-car salesman with aspirations to join the criminal underworld; his hated sister Lynette was sweet sixteen and well kissed; his grandfather was Mark's only friend.
--The Marvel
Mark Holly's great-great grandfather had been the assistant of Dr. Henry Jekyll during his experiments to separate the good and bad sides of man's character. Though things had gone horribly wrong for Jekyll, his assistant had later succeeded in bringing his good side to the fore, with the unexpected side benefit of evolving his body beyond Victorian man's wildest dreams, creating a superbeing great adventurer the Victorians had come to know as the Marvel. This potential had passed down to his descendants, but skipped several generations until Mark.
--The Marvel
The Aesthete loved anything beautiful and destroyed anything he considered ugly, such as London's South Bank.
--The Marvel
A Fagin-like character, Crouch organized an army of teenage kids to hit town after town across the country in a series of crimewaves.
--The Marvel
A foe of the original Marvel, the Dead rose from the
grave to track down the modern version of his nemesis.
--The Marvel
A career police woman, Ena Braun blamed the Marvel for her partner's death. It was said that she joined the police because the Gestapo were no longer taking applications.
--The Marvel
Ms. Ash was Mark Holly's extremely beautiful teacher.
--The Marvel
images: (without ads)
None
Appearances:
The Marvel (alternate title: The Rat - never published) - Tim Quinn
(writer), Art Wetherall (art)
First Posted: 07/02/2020
Last updated: 07/02/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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