Marvel Boy

Marvel Boy
Atlas Comics' Marvel Boy #1 (Dec. 1950): Cover artist uncertain; possibly Sol Brodsky
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	(Burns I) Daring Mystery Comics #6 (June 1940) (Burns II) USA Comics #7 (Feb. 1943) (Grayson) Marvel Boy #1 (Dec. 1950) (Vaughn) Captain America #217 (Jan. 1978)
Created by	(Burns I): Joe Simon & Jack Kirby (Burns II): Bob Oksner (Grayson) Stan Lee & Russ Heath
In-story information
Alter ego	(I) Martin "Marty" Simon Burns (II) Martin Oksner Burns (III) Robert Grayson (IV) Wendell Vaughn (V) Vance Astrovik (VI) David Bank (VII) Noh-Varr
Abilities	Telepathy, Light blasts

Marvel Boy is the name of several fictional comic book characters in the Marvel Comics universe, including predecessor companies Timely Comics and Atlas Comics.

Martin Burns

Martin Burns is the 1940s Marvel Boy. After a mysterious shadow revealed to him that he possessed the power of Hercules, he became a superhero. The character made only two appearances—Daring Mystery Comics #6 (June 1940), by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, and USA Comics #7 (Feb. 1943), by writer-artist Bob Oksner—each of which featured a wildly disparate version of his origin (the first had him the reincarnation of the legendary Greek hero while the second had him accidentally scratched by the demigod's mummified remains in a museum and 'infected' with his superhuman strength), although both shared the basics noted above. The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: Golden Age 2004 reconciles these different origins by stating that there were two Marvel Boys named Martin Burns active in the 1940s.

Robert Grayson

Main article: Marvel Boy (Robert Grayson)

Robert Grayson is the 1950s Marvel Boy, debuting in Marvel Boy #1 (Dec. 1950), from Marvel 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics. He continued to appear when the series title was changed to Astonishing with issue #3. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Russ Heath, with writer-artist Bill Everett taking over with issue #2, this Marvel Boy is the son of Dr. Horace Grabshield (later Anglicized as Grayson), a scientist who fled Earth with his infant during the rise of Nazi Germany. The Graysons landed on Uranus, where they were greeted by the native Uranian Eternals. They presented Robert with a costume and a pair of powerful bracelets that he used to battle crime on Earth. His final story was in Astonishing #7 (Dec. 1951).

Grayson made an appearances in an alternate-reality story in What If #9 (June 1978), as well as in tales taking place before his death, in the 12-issue miniseries Marvel: The Lost Generation (March 2000 - Feb. 2001) and in Avengers Forever (Dec. 1998 - Nov. 1999), although the Avengers Forever appearance is technically part of a timeline that no longer exists.

For many years it was believed that the Grayson Marvel Boy had gone insane following a disaster that had destroyed the Uranian Eternals. Debuting in Fantastic Four #165 (Dec. 1975) under the name "The Crusader," his seeming return was brief and he died at the end of this arc, having exploded with only his Quantum Bands remaining.

The 2006 Marvel miniseries Agents of Atlas explained his survival by stating that The Crusader had actually been a different person—a confused and surgically altered Uranian Eternal who had been using the Quantum Bands as a replacement for Marvel Boy's own power bracelets. This replacement was intended as an unquestioningly loyal servant of the Uranian Eternals, conditioned to obey and to believe he was actually the original Marvel Boy. However, the plan went awry when a disaster destroyed his creators midway through the project, leaving the Crusader in a deranged and delusional state, and finally dying.

Grayson himself remained on Uranus, eventually joining a society of native Uranians. Having evolved there, they were wildly different from the Uranian Eternals; they were in fact fully non-humanoid invertebrates. Nonetheless they completely (and physically) absorbed him into their culture, adapting his body to suit. When he eventually left for Earth, he was told he would never be able to return.^[1] The years living with the Uranians have caused profound psychological and physical changes in Robert Grayson - for instance, he extends his entire esophagus when eating, and is strangely attracted by large marine invertebrates. The Grayson Marvel Boy remains active as an Agent of Atlas.

Wendell Vaughn

Main article: Quasar (Wendell Vaughn)

Wendell Vaughn, an agent in the Marvel Comics espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., became the 1970s Marvel Boy in Captain America #217 (Jan. 1978) when he became bonded to the 1950s Quantum Bands. The bands had been remanded to S.H.I.E.L.D. after the events of The Fantastic Four #165, above, with Robert Grayson. His codename was quickly changed to Marvel Man as part of the agency's short-lived Super-Agent program. He changed it to Quasar in The Incredible Hulk #234 (April 1979), and under that name teamed up with the Thing in Marvel Two-in-One #53 (July 1979). After learning that the cosmic entity Eon had intended to give the alien Quantum Bands to the Protector of the Universe, he accepted that role.

Vance Astrovik

Main article: Vance Astrovik

Vance Astrovik was the 1980s Marvel Boy. He used the Marvel Boy codename for some time before being sent to prison in the pages of New Warriors. He later adopted the codename Justice.

David Bank

Main article: Marvel Boy (David Bank)

David Bank is a mutant in the Marvel Comics Universe, who can fly and project energy blasts. He first appeared in Justice: Four Balance #4 (1994). David Bank took on the name of Marvel Boy in the closing issue of a series featuring Vance Astrovik, the previous Marvel Boy.

Noh-Varr

Main article: Noh-Varr

While never using the name Marvel Boy, Noh-Varr was introduced in a 2000 miniseries of that title by Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones. He is an alien of the pink-skinned Kree species, although he hails from another reality. Upon arriving on Earth, he became an anti-hero styled after Captain Marvel but with elements of teenage rebellion added to the mix. In 2006 he appeared in the Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways mini-series and later in an issue of the Illuminati. Later on, Noh-Varr joined the Dark Avengers, as Captain Marvel, alongside the Iron Patriot, Hawkeye and others.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ Agents of Atlas #3
2. ^ THE OSBORN SUPREMACY: Dark Avengers, Comic Book Resources, January 22, 2008

References

• Marvel Boy (Martin Burns) at the International Catalogue of Superheroes
• Marvel Boy (Martin Burns) at the Comic Book DB
• Marvel Boy (Robert Grayson) at the International Catalogue of Superheroes
• Marvel Boy (Robert Grayson) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
• Marvel Boy (Robert Grayson) at the Guide to Marvel's Pre-FF #1 Heroes
• Marvel Boy (Robert Grayson) at the Comic Book DB
• Marvel Boy (Wendell Vaughn) at the Comic Book DB
• Marvel Boy (Wendell Vaughn) at Marvel Infinity
• Marvel Boy (Vance Astrovik) at the Comic Book DB
• Marvel Boy (David Bank) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Marvel Boy (David Bank) at the Comic Book DB
• Marvel Boy (Noh-Varr) at the Comic Book DB

External links

• Marvel Boy (disambiguation) at the Marvel Universe
• Marvel Boy at the Marvel Database Project