AMBROSE RANDOLPH WINTHROP
Real Name: Ambrose Randolph Winthrop
Identity/Class: Human (Old West era)
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Mephisto, his wife and later family
Enemies: His first wive and child
Known Relatives: Unidentified wife and child
(deceased), unidentified wives (presumed deceased), unidentified widow
and numerous children (presumed deceased), Oliver
Winthrop (great-great-grandson, deceased), Oliver's
unidentified wife (great-great-granddaughter-in-law, deceased), Oliver's
unidentified son (great-great-great-grandson, deceased)
Aliases: "Little Maggot," "Pa"
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: Avengers VII#38 (January, 2021)
Powers/Abilities: Ambrose Randolph Winthrop
did not possess any superhuman powers but during the course of his
life, he thrived and was always successful due to his deal with the
demon Mephisto. Following his death, Ambrose's succeeding generations
also remained successful due to Ambrose's deal and their own deals with
Mephisto.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 145 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Light brown
History: (Avengers VII#38
(fb) - BTS) - Ambrose Randolph Winthrop and his family decided to
travel west in hopes of finding a new start. During the
Winthrop family's travels, they ventured through the Kansas
territory but was caught in an intense snowstorm. Starving and near
death, Winthrop killed the mule pulling his family's wagon, hoping to
eat the mule to survive, only to find the mule full of maggots when it
fell.
(Avengers VII#38 (fb)) - At a
crossroads, the weak and starving Ambrose Winthrop prayed to anyone who
would listen, hoping for a miracle and promising to do anything to
ensure his family survived this situation and thrived. The demon
Mephisto, in the form of a snake, then appeared to Winthrop carrying a
knife in his mouth and seemed intrigued at Winthrop's promises to do
anything. Desperate, Winthrop accepted Mephisto's offer for his family
to survive and thrive but Mephisto required Winthrop to kill his wife
and child in order to survive. Winthrop then picked up the knife
Mephisto had and entered his family's wagon, slaughtering them and
eating their flesh to survive as Mephisto slithered away, welcoming
Winthrop into his fold. Following this event, Winthrop continued his
trek west alone, finding new wives and fathering many children. Forging
more success than he ever imagined, Winthrop confessed to his final
wife that some day, the being he met at his crossroads would come for
him and Winthrop eventually died an extremely wealthy man, having seen
his family become strong.
Following Ambrose's death, Mephisto came to his widow's home and
explained that Ambrose's debt to him remained unpaid and that he
required a token from the Winthrop family that ensured that Ambrose's
debt had now become his family's debt. Mephisto then informed Ambrose's
widow that he would settle for a finger from each of Ambrose's children
and his widow agreed, soon cutting off a finger from each of the
children. Over time, Mephisto returned to the Winthrop family for more
tokens in exchange for favors to keep Ambrose's succeeding generations
thriving.
(Avengers VII#38 - BTS) - By the modern era, Ambrose's
great-great-grandson Oliver was visited by Mephisto and the deceased
Howard Stark (or a demon posing as Stark) and Mephisto devoured Oliver
and his family, with "Stark" proclaiming Ambrose's debt paid in full.
Comments: Created by Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness and Mark Morales.
It was never specifically stated at what point in history Ambrose Randolph Winthrop lived but there are two clues in his story: 1) The date is listed as "a few centuries ago." and 2) it mentions that he was traveling through the Kansas territory and the Kansas US territory only existed as a territory from May 30, 1854-January 29, 1861, at which point Kansas was made an actual state. That would place Winthrop as being alive at some point between those dates.
I think it would be interesting to connect the
wealthy J.B. Winthrop from Journey into Mystery I#89 to Ambrose's
family. Since the Journey into Mystery story takes place in 1963 and
J.B. was wealthy, perhaps J.B. was a descendant of Ambrose's...perhaps
even the grandfather of Oliver Winthrop who wealthy due to the Winthrop
family's deals with Mephisto. Heck, for that matter, maybe the soap
opera writer Mr. Winthrop from Daredevil I#66 is Oliver's father. One
would think being a soap opera writer would be considering "thriving"
and "successful."
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ambrose Randolph Winthrop should be
distinguished from:
| --Avengers VII#38 |
Appearances:
Avengers VII#38 (January, 2021) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ed McGuinness
(pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First posted: 11/18/2021
Last updated: 11/18/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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Oliver Winthrop & his wife & child