History
The Gentleman, born Gustav Fiers, had a lethal reputation in the criminal underground, known for devising ingenious schemes to boost his personal wealth and for being active behind the scenes in a number of key events in world history. He had a strong contempt for the rest of humanity, considering the vast majority of humanity to be wastes of space incapable of having any real impact on anyone or anything other than providing raw materials or cannon fodder for the 'superior breed' such as himself- though he wouldn't let this affect business deals due to the potential barriers to useful profit- and he enjoyed visiting the poorer parts of the world to see evidence of this. Despite his contempt for humanity, he was able to form friendships with others, learning over time that he genuinely cared for his younger brother and developing a strong respect for the Red Skull, providing him with various information and resources during World War II despite not sharing the Skull's prejudices and moral beliefs.
Fiers had a series of run-ins with Doctor George Williams of the US Treasury in the 1930s, with Williams playing a vital part in thwarting one of Fiers' schemes. Fiers retaliated by not only arranging for Williams' wife to be killed by a bomb on their wedding night, but also sending Williams a congratulatory telegram that arrived just as the bomb went off. As a result, Williams spent the next sixty years tracking down Fiers, eventually becoming the world's foremost expert on the criminal.
Fiers nearly killed the Canadian operative known as Logan at some time during his career, but Logan was saved through the actions of Richard and Mary Parker, who had been operating as double agents in Fiers' organization. When Fiers learned that the Parkers had been hired by Albert Malik, the second Red Skull, he set aside his usual contempt for Malik—who he acknowledged as a pretender to the title and who he regarded as operating outside of his league—to warn him about the Parkers, asking only that he spare the Parkers' son Peter so that he could be a greater challenge later in life.
Fiers' operatives learnt about the accident that allowed Peter Parker to become Spider-Man as he got older, but although being amused by the turn of events, he kept Peter's identity a secret, even murdering the investigators who had brought him this information. During this time, Fiers acquired a ward in the form of Pity, the daughter of unnamed old enemies who possessed enhanced strength, speed, and a form of psionically-induced darkness, whom he brutally forced to serve him through a twisted form of brainwashing in which she would despise him but be incapable of defying him. Although the Chameleon was ignorant of Fiers' interest in Spider-Man, he forged a working partnership with Peter's first nemesis, the Chameleon.[1]
Fiers arranged for the Chameleon to enlist Spider-Man's enemies Doctor Octopus, Electro, Mysterio, and the Vulture to form a new edition of the Sinister Six once they arrived in New York (with Pity as the sixth member of the team). As part of Fiers' plot, he planned for the Six to conduct a 'Day of Terror,' with four of them kidnapping hostages at various locations throughout the city while Electro and Pity took an unnamed tank from a secret storage site (with Mysterio posing as Electro to hide Electro's absence). This culminated in a duel in the Daily Bugle, with Fiers disclosing his role in the events to Spider-Man, as well as his role in the deaths of the Parkers.
Fiers began buying up various works of art from around the world, as well as putting a bomb in the Parker family home while Peter was away, while Spider-Man and the strategic action group S.A.F.E. made contact with George Williams to conduct additional research on the Gentleman. After another raid by the Six ended with them taking a powerful electromagnetic generator, S.A.F.E. realized that the Gentleman intended to use Electro to trigger the generator and create an electromagnetic pulse in downtown Manhattan that would have destroyed all computer records. Fiers' official rationale for deploying the Six instead of more manageable mercenaries was the necessity of Electro to power the generator, according to Spider-Man, but his private motivation was his grudge against Peter Parker. Fiers then released the contents of the stolen tank from his private plane which included a special catalyst that would essentially destroy all ink it came into contact with, erasing all paper and electronic records. The loss of information that resulted would cause a global financial meltdown, as gang warfare would become the only way to survive amid the chaos and destruction caused by the generator's detonation. Fiers had spent so much time buying art because he wanted to ensure that he would have material wealth once the money he had used to pay the Six had become nearly worthless.[1]
Unfortunately for Fiers, as he prepared to leave New York while the Six planned to set off the generator (all unaware of the anti-ink catalyst), he was caught off guard by the Chameleon, who had pretended to be his driver in order to learn where Fiers was storing his newly acquired treasures and then shot him after reaching the plane; Fiers had always been able to see through the Chameleon's disguises in the past, but was left speculating that the Chameleon had been Doctor Octopus met the Chameleon-as-Fiers, who had surmised that Fiers had an extra objective beyond detonating the generator and detested it.
Although Doctor Octopus confronted the Chameleon-as-Fiers, who had deduced that Fiers had an ulterior motive beyond detonating the generator and resented his subordinate position in this current incarnation of the Six, Spider-Man and Pity caught the two villains; Electro, Mysterio, and the Vulture had all been defeated before they could set off the generator, and Spider-Man had persuaded Pity to help him find the Gentleman by Octavius' absence was dangerous because of his clear vendetta against his inferior position in the current Sinister Six (everyone was so focused on Octavius that they didn't notice the Chameleon's absence from the fight until they were already on the plane).
S.A.F.E. discovered the Gentleman dying of his wounds in the airport while Spider-Man and Pity boarded the plane. Williams derided the Gentleman's obsession with wealth now that he had lost his whole fortune through paying the Six and buying his treasures in a final fight with his foe. When Fiers bitterly pleaded that he couldn't die penniless, Williams sarcastically tossed a penny into a corner of the hangar, speculating that Fiers might be able to reach it before the bloodlust dragged him to Hell. Fiers was laid to rest in an unmarked pauper's tomb, dying of his wounds with no one to claim his body, while the jet carrying most of his new valuables crashed into the sea during the struggle between Spider-Man, Pity, the Chameleon, and Doc Ock. The Chameleon and Spider-Man were recovered from the crash, but Octavius went missing for a few months after a fight with Pity, and the bomb that Fiers had planted in the Parker house was discovered and defused by Wolverine (who had learned of the Gentleman's return to action but decided that protecting Peter was more important than trying to join an already-effective team to exact his own revenge).[1]
Civil War II[]
When The Gentleman reappeared as an accomplice of the Kingpin during Civil War II, it was revealed that he had survived.[2] Following S.H.I.E.L.D.'s announcement that Fisk had been slain by the Punisher, the Gentleman and Jigsaw debated their next course of action, and, like the rest of the Kingpin's allies, they resolved to follow Fisk's protégé Janus.[3]
Attributes
Powers
The Gentleman has no supernatural talents. As a villain, the character makes use of his riches and ability to plan.
Pity, the Gentleman's bodyguard, has the psionic ability to create and control synthetic darkness that no light can penetrate; she could also generate an equivalent burst of light that inspired positive emotions in those who saw it, but Fiers had apparently trained her not to use it because he felt it was useless to him. Pity has improved speed, strength, and reflexes, allowing him to fight Spider-Man.See Also
- 5 appearance(s) of Gustav Fiers (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Gustav Fiers (Earth-616)
- 3 image(s) of Gustav Fiers (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Spider-Man: The Secret of the Sinister Six
- ↑ This also marked the character's first appearance in a Marvel comic book.
- ↑ Civil War II: Kingpin #4