Grandmaster (Marvel Comics)

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caption=
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Grandmaster
real_name=En Dwi Gast
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Avengers" #69 (October 1969)
creators=Roy Thomas
John Buscema
alliance_color=background:#cccccc
status=Active
alliances=Squadron Sinister, Elders of the Universe
previous_alliances=
aliases=The Master of Games
relatives=The Collector (brother)
powers=User of the Power Primordial:
Immortality
Master of all games
Master strategist and tactician
Energy control
Size and matter manipulation
Ability to "will" the death and resurrection of another|

The Grandmaster is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. who first appeared in "The Avengers" #69. He is one of the ageless Elders of the Universe and has mastered most civilizations' games of skill and chance.

Fictional character biography

Although his exact origin is unknown, he is one of the oldest living beings in the universe, coming from one of the first intelligent races to evolve after the Big Bang. He once possessed the Mind Gem, one of the six Infinity Gems, but he lost it to Thanos ["Thanos Quest", #2] . He is a cosmic game player whose preferred game is pitting two opposing teams against each other. He has used the Squadron Sinister, Daredevil, the Defenders, the East and West Coast Avengers, Ultraforce, and the Justice League.

In his first appearance, the Grandmaster played a game against Kang the Conqueror, using the Avengers and Squadron Sinister as pawns. ["Avengers" #69-71] He next used the Defenders as pawns in a game against the Prime Mover. ["Giant-Size Defenders" #3]

The Grandmaster later challenged Death to a game of strategy. A large collection of Earth heroes were used as pawns by both sides of the game. The Grandmaster won; but while he demanded life for the Collector as a result, he was forced to sacrifice himself to accomplish this. ["Contest of Champions" miniseries, #1-4] The Grandmaster returned from beyond his grave to plague the East and West Coast Avengers during one of their annual games of baseball. After he and the Collector tricked the teams into battling each other, the Grandmaster succeeded in his true plan: to capture Lady Death and usurp her powers. He forced the Avengers to participate in a competition with the Legion of the Unliving in order to stop a series of powerful bombs, the fate being all of creation. Captain America and Hawkeye were the only two heroes to survive; the rest of the Avengers were slain, only to instantly join the Legion. As the Grandmaster was preparing to force the pair to fight the Legion again, Hawkeye convinced him to lay it all on the line with one last game of pure chance. Hawkeye held one arrow in each fist, the tips hidden in his hands. Grandmaster would win if he chose the one with Hawkeye's last arrowhead. The one he picked was headless (Hawkeye admits to Captain America that he had cheated: he quickly snapped off the arrowhead as the Grandmaster chose the correct arrow), and his distraction allowed Lady Death to escape her bonds and banish the Grandmaster from her realm — in other words, making them effectively immortal. As a reward, she returned the deceased Avengers to life. This incident is what lead Death to ban the Elders from dying, confirmed by the Grandmaster in the issue's final panels, just before he expresses interest in the Avengers' renewed baseball game. ["Avengers West Coast" #2; "Avengers Annual" #16]

He and a group of other Elders then conspired to kill Galactus and restart the universe; they felt that being banned from Death's realm would make them the sole survivors to continue their obsessions in a whole new universe. ["Silver Surfer" Vol. 2 #4] The Grandmaster battled Galactus and the Silver Surfer, ["Silver Surfer" Vol. 2 #9] and was devoured by Galactus. ["Silver Surfer" Vol. 2 #10] Along with the other Elders devoured by Galactus, he caused Galactus "cosmic indigestion" from within, and escaped from Galactus. ["Silver Surfer" Vol. 2 #17] However, he was then teleported to parts unknown by Galactus. ["Silver Surfer" Vol. 2 #19]

Since then he showed up in various other stories playing games including against Korvac, Kang the Conqueror, and the Quasar series. In 2004 the Grandmaster organized the meeting of the Avengers and the Justice League in an attempt to save the Marvel Universe from the DC Comics villain Krona ("JLA/Avengers").

Recently, the Grandmaster has recreated his Squadron Sinister, with new incarnations of members Doctor Spectrum and Hyperion, to contend against Baron Zemo's Thunderbolts. He has been using this Squadron to destroy several sources of extra-dimensional energy, known collectively as the "Universal Wellspring", apparently to prevent Zemo from controlling them. In "Thunderbolts" #106, the Grandmaster was dispersed by Zemo in a battle for the final Wellspring. Later in "Thunderbolts 108" he was restored and battled Zemo for control of Earth, however using all the power of Earth that had been loaned to him by Earth's superhumans, Zemo was able to take his powers away. Zemo then shot the Grandmaster in the head seemingly killing him. Whether or not the Grandmaster will revive, as he has in the past, has yet to be seen.

Powers and abilities

The Grandmaster is one of the most powerful beings in the universe with powers on par with if not surpassing other Elders and other cosmic beings such as the Watchers. The Grandmaster's powers are the result of manipulation of cosmic energy. It has been implied that the Grandmaster can, and in some cases has, used highly advanced technology to augment his abilities and perform feats that might be normally beyond him. While the extent of this is unknown it is known that the Grandmaster has access and mastery of technology far beyond human comprehension.

The Grandmaster possesses a cosmic life force which grants him a variety of superhuman traits, including a virtually immortal body, including immunity to aging, disease, poison, and imperviousness to conventional injury through regeneration of any injury. He can survive and travel in space unaided and without food, drink, or air. He wields vast energy powers, the full extent of which is unknown. He can utilize his cosmic life force for a variety of effects, including levitation, the projection of blasts of cosmic energy, teleportation across space and time and alternate dimensions, adjusting his height and transformation and rearrangement of matter on a molecular level on a planetary scale. Perhaps his most fearsome ability is his power over life and death. The Grandmaster can "will" the death of another being. It is unknown if he can will the death of another virtual immortal being. He can also "resurrect" another being no matter how badly injured or heal a person on the verge of death. He cannot resurrect another virtually immortal being powered by "cosmic life force" like himself or anyone who has died past a certain time point. Lastly, he can temporarily bestow these powers upon another being. Currently, due to his machinations against Death, he and the other Elders cannot die.

He has a highly developed superhuman intellect specializing in games. He can calculate diverse low information probabilities within a tenth of a second and remember countless rules and data. He also possesses certain extra-sensory abilities of mental perception beyond those currently known which enable him to sense things about his surroundings not detectable by normal senses. He also maintains a psychic link with the highly advanced computers of his base world, which extend and enhance his mental abilities.

The Grandmaster has access to various exotic extraterrestrial devices as needed, including starships.

The Grandmaster has vast knowledge and comprehension of games and game theory far beyond present-day Earth, as well as encyclopedic knowledge of thousands of exotic games played throughout the universe.

In other media

Television

* The Grandmaster appears in the 2006 "Fantastic Four" TV series, pitting the Fantastic Four against Super-Skrull, Ronan the Accuser, Impossible Man, and Annihilus in a tournament.

References

External links

* [http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/g/grandmaster.htm Marvel Directory: Grandmaster]
*http://www.marvel.com/universe/Grandmaster